to the places of punishment in the next life let them with purgatory rase vp the fathers resting place so plainely set forth by scripture beleued of the whole Church and alwayes taught by the holy fathers Yea let them that will haue no place for sinners finde with blasphemie hell like torments for Gods owne Sonne with the damned spirites My hearte surely will scarse serue me to report it and yet cursed Caluine was not afearde to write it and with arrogant vauntes against the blessed fathers to auouch the same That miserable forsaken man sawe that the onely graunt of the olde fathers punishment by the lacke of euerlasting ioye might of force driue him to acknowledge that God sometimes exerciseth his iustice vpon those which he loueth in the next life and so consequently that Purgatory paynes might be inferred therevppon therefore he fell headelong to this horrible blasphemye that Christ went not to loose any from the paynes of the next life but to be punished in hell with the deadely damned him selfe for to amend the lacke of his passion vppon the Crosse. O our cursed tyme O corrupt conditions this beast writeth thus agaynst our blessed Sauiours death and against the sufficiency of the abundant price of our redemption and yet he liueth in mans memory yea his bookes be greedely redd redde Nay by such as would be counted the chiefe of the cleargy and beare Byshops names they are commaunded to be redde and the very booke wherein this all other detestable doctrine is vttered especially by their authority commended to the simple Curats study that they might there learne closely in deuilish bookes such wicked heresies as the preachers them selues dare not yet in the light of the world vtter nor maintaine But other be not so farre fallen therefore they must of reason confesse that God by iust correction hath before Christes comming visited in the next world many hundred yeares togither the sinnes of those whome he dearly loued Although not onely in all that time the soules of the holy Patriarches felt the lacke of the aboundant fruition of the Maiesty but also for sinne they both then in rest and now in vnspeakeable felicity want till this day the encrease of ioy and blesse that by the receauing of their bodyes yet lying in dust they are vndoubtedly sure of Therfore it is ouer much presumption to limit the maiesty of God in the gouernment of his owne creatures to the borders of our short life and almost it toucheth his very prouidence with iniury to say that he letteth him scape without punishment for his sinnes that repented not till the houre of death as for whom he hath no scourge in the next life as he had here if death had not preuented his purpose These childish cogitations can not stand with the righteousnes of his will that for the first sinne committed doth not onely punish many euerlastingly of the forsaken sorte but also for the same punisheth both his best beloued in earth and for a time abateth the felicity of the blessed Sainctes in heauen But I will not stray after these men My matter is so fruitefull that I may not roue And though the sectes of these dayes haue so infected euery braunch of our christian faith that a man can not well ouerpasse them what so euer he taketh in hand yet I will not medle with them no further then shall concerne the quicke of our cause and the necessary light of our matter 5 Now this lusty gallaunt as though he had fully repayred and fortified the olde ruinous and battered towers of limbus patrum with canuas paynted walls he standeth vpon his bulwarke of browne paper and cryeth defiaunce to all his enemies and especially he vttereth his spite agaynst Caluine as a notorious enemy of his cause quarel Whom because he is to young to encounter withall by any witt learning reason or truth he spitteth out against him most impudent sclaunders raylings and lyes in which faculty he hath striued so much to shew him selfe eloquent that not satisfying him selfe with the voyce of a man he hath borrowed the tongue of the Deuill him selfe or at the least wise for feare he should not lye throughly geuen ouer his shamelesse tongue to be wagged by the father of lyes For what man with any shewe of humane reason would accuse Caluine to deny the sufficiency of the redemptiō of Christ to affirme that Christ went downe into hell after his death to be punished there with the damned him selfe for to amend the lacke of his passion vpon the crosse whose doctrine God him selfe the Angells and all the world doth knowe and testifie to be directly contrary to these sclaunders For who euer more constantly affirmed or more substantially proued the sufficiency of our redemption by Christes death what asse so vnlearned if he can but conster Caluins latine in his catechisme institutions or any part of his workes where he entreateth of that article of Christes descense in to hell may not plainly see that he vtterly denieth his descending into hell after his life affirming the same to be vnderstood of the wrath of God which he sustayned for our sinnes before his death at that time especially when he that was God complained that he was forsaken of God which mystery if M. Allen vnderstand not it is no maruell seeing he abridgeth so much the benefite of Christes redemption as all papistes doe alwayes and he specially in this his defence of purgatory and yet he is not ashamed to say of Caluine this beaste writeth against our blessed Sauiours death If I did not moderate somwhat my corrupt affections I could requite him the like reproches but this much I must needes say Is Caluine a beast for speaking the truth to the glory of Christes redemption Allen an honest man for sclaundering him to the defacing of Gods honour But because he would not be thought to haue spued oute all his poison against Caluine he goulpeth vp an other bowlefull of rayling and sclaundering against our Bishoppes who haue not onely suffered but also commended Caluins bookes to be reade and studied of the simple curates affirming that they doe priuily set forth by books that which they dare not openly preach If euery man that can be a witnesse that M. Allen lyeth in this matter should pull one heare from his heade or bearde they would leaue him neuer an heare of an honest man behinde them But that he maie returne to his gentle aduersaries with whome is lesse daungerous dealing there be some he sayth that graunt the punishment of the fathers after their death of whose liberall concession he doubteth not but to patch vp his Purgatory In which practise he is not vnlike a fonde fellowe of whome I haue hearde men iest in Cambridge who when he was non plus as they terme it in disputation and all his argument spent that he had prouided Now sayth he will I dispute of your concesses
without any further satisfaction he is to be receiued againe as appereth most manifestly in the receiuing of that Corinthian which was excommunicated of whose vnfeined repentaunce when the Apostle had intelligence he writeth againe to the Corinthians of him saying It is sufficient for that same man that he was rebuked of many but now you ought to forgeue him and comforte him that he should not be swallowed vp with ouer much heuines 2. Cor. 2. And as for the practise of the olde and puerer Church by enioyning of workes of repentaunce was that they might not be deceiued by conterfect repentaunce in stead of true and earnest reformation not to satisfie the wrath of God against sinners which is not satisfied but by the bloude of Christ but to satisfie and assure the Church as much as man might iudge of the vnfeined and hartie repentaunce of the offendour For how so euer the olde writers vse the worde of satisfaction somethinge vnproprely yet their cleare affirmation of the onely satisfaction of Christes death declareth what they vnderstoode when they vsed that terme in an other sense But this is not to be omitted that M. Allen confesseth the Papistes to haue left the olde vsage of the Church which was first to set satisfactiō and then to absolue and now of late to haue taken vp a contrary custome that is first to absolue then to enioyne penaunce This practise therefore lacketh antiquitie one of the chiefe pillers of Popery But this he sayeth is for great causes but what causes he doth not expresse it is sufficient that the Church can not erre though they doe that which is contrary to the vsage of the auncient Church without grounde of Scripture and against the commaundement of Christ. How harde Cyprian was to absolue them that were excommunicate before they had shewed great fruites of repentaunce and how carefull that the Church should not be deceiued by them that vpō counterfected penaūce required absolution appereth by many of his epistles in his Sermon De lapsis But because we shall haue a more proper place to speake of satisfaction in the next Chapter we will now follow M. Allen in this matter of excōmunicatiō 2 This punishment was euer by cutting of from the Christian societie and often ioyned with torment of body or sicknesse And sometimes with death As in the excommunication of Ananias and Zaphiras VVhich Christes vicar S. Peter to the great terrour euen of the faithfull grauely pronounced on them for retaining backe certaine Church goods which by promesse they had before dedicated vnto God the Apostles distributiō This kinde of punishment of sinnes was euer counted so terrible that we finde it called of the olde fathers damnation as one that most resembles the paines of the worlde to come of all other And if man coulde see with corporall eyes the miserie of the party so condemned in Gods church his hearte woulde brast and it woulde moue terrour of further damnation euen to the stubborne contemners of the Churches authoritie The which censure of Gods priestes though it was sometimes to the euerlasting woe of such offenders as neglected the benefite of that present paine yet commonly it was but chastisement and louing correction of our deare mother for their deliuerie from greater griefe in the life to come 2 He sayth that excōmunication was oftentimes ioyned with torment of bodie and sickenesse and sometimes with death Of torment and sickenesse he bringeth no proofe but of death in Ananias and Saphira But where findeth he that they were excommunicated I finde that they were punished with death for their hypocrisie and dissimulation but there is no worde nor halfe worde of their excommunication and whereas you saye it was for reteining backe of certaine Church goods S. Peter sayth it was for lying and tempting the holy Ghost And those Church goods were not for vaine ostentation of golden copes chalices or such like superstitious vanities but for the necessarie reliefe of the poore Againe I know in what sense you call S. Peter Christes vicar well if the Pope be in the same office Peter was why doth he not likewise punish those whome he taketh to be Church robbers if he lacke the power as I am sure he lacketh not the will then hath he not the authoritie Peter had And if Peter did this as Christes vicar then is not he Christes vicar that can not doe as Peter did 3 And for this cause as the example of all ages past may sufficiently proue were certeine times and ordinary termes of penaunce apointed for iust satisfaction for euery offense and by the holy Canons so limited that no sinne wittingly might be reserued to Gods heauy reuenge in the ende of our short dayes It were to long to reporte the rules and prescription of penaunce out of Nice Councell or Ancyre or out of S. Cyprian for their punishmēt that fell to Idolatry in the time of Decius and Diocletianus or out of Ambrose the notable excommunication of Theodosius the Emperour By all which and the like in the histories of the Ecclesiasticall affaires he that can not see what paine is due vnto sinne euen after the remission thereof I holde him both ignorant and malicious blinde 3 That certeine times and ordinary termes were appointed in which they that grieuousely offended shoulde shew their repentaunce the same was not for satisfaction for their sinnes but for certaine demonstration of their repētaunce which thing appereth euen by the same canons of the Councels which you alledge For when godly discipline beganne to decaie whereof Cyprian complaineth often in his epistles men that notoriously offended would sometime by thretning and terrors sometime by refusing the censure of that church by whome they were condemned sometime by flattering the constant Martyrs and so deceiuing them that they would become suters for them at whose request the Church many times was intreated would seeke to thrust them selues againe into the communion of the faithfull before they had shewed sufficient tokens of sorrow for so greuous faltes of which enormyties Cyprian much complaineth as one that was much trobled with thē as Lib. 1. Epist. 3. Lib. 3. Epist. 15. For remedy of which enormities and for auoiding of all subtill practises to restore discipline to the auncient seuerity decrees were made by the aunciēt Councels in which certaine times of triall were appointed for offenders to approue their repentaunce with regarde of the heynousnesse of their crymes but yet with such moderation that they might be receiued before the time appointed if they shewed sufficient fruites of repentaunce as appereth most plainely in the 11. Canon of the Nicone Councell where it is said Ab omnibus vero illud praecipuè obseruetur vt animus corum fructus poenitentiae attendatur c. Let this be chiefely considered of all that are excommunicated that there minde and fruictes of repentaunce be considered for they that with all feare continuall teares
by it But Christ you say hath instituted this sacrifice to be offered vp for the remembraunce of his death the clensing of our sinnes Shew one word M. Allen out of the Scripture of any sacrifice instituted by Christ at his last supper or else you are a most horrible and blasphemous lyer The holy Ghost sayth we are sanctified by his will thorough the offering of the body of Christ once made for al and where remission of sinnes is there is left no sacrifice for sinne Heb. 10. But you are not content to ioyne your sacrifice of the masse as an appendix vnto the onely once offered and no more offerable sacrifice of Christ his death except you proceede and vtterly deny all the force and benefite of the oblation of his bitter passion For you say that Christ in his last supper not onely gaue to his Apostles but also offered to God his father that body which was after betrayed and that blood which was shed after also for remission of sinnes being that sacrifice which should succede the bloody offerings of the olde testament what place haue you here left for the passion of Christ O intolerable blasphemy Christ offered vp but one sacrifice and that you affirme to be before his death Christ offered but once and that you affirme to be at his supper By that one sacrifice which Christ did once offer he redemed vs from all our sinnes and that you affirme to haue bene offered in the sacrament Doe you not now plainly exclude the death and passion of Christ and all the merites thereof who can abide to heare you afterward when you say that the sacrifice of the masse is an application of the benefits of Christ his death vnto vs when now you affirme that it is the continuance of that sacrifice which Christ offered and instituted before his death who neuer offered but one sacrifice and that but once O Lord these blasphemers are more worthy to be beaten downe with thunderbolts then their blasphemies so directly contrary to the holy Scriptures haue neede to be confuted with wordes 2 Now this is that blessed sacrifice which S. Augustine with feare and reuerence termeth in a thousand places of his workes the sacrifice of the Altar the sacrifice of our Mediatour the sacrifice of our price the sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ the holsome and profitable sacrifice the sacrifice of Melchisedech the new sacrifice S. Chrysostom the reuerent sacrifice the honorable Mysteries the Fearefull sacrifice Athanasius the propitiatory sacrifice the vnbloody Host. S. Cyprian the sacrifice of the Church the perpetuall sacrifice the meate offering the medecine for our infirmities Irenaeus the pure sacrifice the new sacrifice of the new testament Clement againe the vnbloudy sacrifice the rationable sacrifice and so doth the holy Counsell of Ephesus call it Dionysius the sacrifice most excellent of all sacrificies and the hoste of hostes The Latines altogether afterward named it the holy Masse so did S. Augustine call it Ambrose Hierome Epiph. scholastic with all the posteritie both in Latin and other barbarous languagies Besides many other excellent high and peculiar callinges which can agree to no other common worship of God internall nor external but onely to this most worthy and honorable sacrifice which by the vertue that it hath receiued by the first examplar therof and by the might and mercy of the Lambe of God which vnder the couer of breade and wine is there the appointed hoste and oblation is profitable both to the quicke and the deade And therefore is hath ben vsed euer sith the Apostles age by Christes owne prescription and theirs commaunded to be religiously obserued and of all faythfull people honoured as the principall protestation of our religion as the grounde of all true worship as the badge of Christian peace as the bonde of holy society betwixt the heade and the membres as the loue knot betwixt Christ and his spouse as the vniting of the liue with the dead the holy sainctes with vs poore sinners Angells with men heuenly thinges with earthly and the Creator of all with his owne creatures beneth as the plentifull condeth to deriue the grace of Christes death and merites of his passiō to the continuall conforth of our soules as the onely practise of his eternall priesthood according to the ordre of Melchisedech as the only effectuall memoriall and comfortable memory of the sheeding of his blessed bloude and sufferance of so deare and painefull death for our redemption VVhat altar so euer be erected against this altar it is nothing els but a waste of Gods worship a canker of religion a token of dissension a separation of the holy society of the Christian communion a larome towardes schisme a departure from Christ an open badge of heresy a saulsy shouldering with Christes Church and ordinaunce an open robbry of his honour and priesthood a plaine stoppe of the passage of his giftes and grace in his louing house the onely waye to paganisme and eternall obliuion of his death and passion 2 Now we shall heare how many of the olde writers call it a sacrifice but he neede not take all that paynes for we confesse that the celebration of the Lordes supper is commonly but vnproperly called of them a sacrifice Howbeit they ment nothing lesse then to set vp a blasphemous aultar and new sacrifice and priesthoode against our Sauiour Christ the onely priest aultar and sacrifice of our redemption as Augustine calleth him but onely there meaning was that it was a remembraunce and memoriall of that onely sacrifice with thankes giuing for the same Augustine de fide ad Petrum Diaconum cap. 19. shewing the difference of the sacrifices of the olde lawe the onely sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of breade and wine which the Church offered sayth In illis enim carnalibus victimis figuratio fuit carnis Christi quā pro peccatis nostris ipse sine peccato fuerat oblaturus sanguinis quē erat effusurus in remissionem peccatorum In isto autem sacrificio gratiarum actio atque commemoratio est carnis Christi quam pro nobis obtulit sanguinis quem pro nobis idem Deus effudit For in these carnall sacrifices there was a figuring of the flesh of Christ which he being with out sinne shoulde offer for our sinnes and of his bloude which he shoulde shedde for remission of our sinnes But in this sacrifice there is thankes geuing and commemoration of the flesh of Christ which he offered for vs and his bloude which the same God shedde for vs In his 23. epistle to Bonifacius he sheweth that sacraments take the names of those thinges whereof they are sacraments by a certeine similitude and liknesse that they haue vnto the thinges them selues whereof they are sacraments And so the sacrament of Christes sacrifice is called a sacrifice as after a certeine manner the sacrament of Christes
worthy will her sonne Augustine so alloweth that he setteth it forth in the ninth of his confessions to her eternall memorie in these wordes My mother sayth he when the daye of her passing hense was now at hande much regarded not how her body might curiously be couered or with costly spice is powdered neither did she counte vpon any gorgious tumbe or sepulcre these thinges she charged vs not with all But her whole only desire was that a memory might be kept for her at thy holy altar good Lorde at which she missed no day to serue thee where she knew the holy hoste was bestowed by which the bonde obligatory that was against vs was cancelled Marke good reader as we go by the waye what that is which in the blessed sacrifice of the aultar is offered how cleare a confession this man and his mother doe make of their faith and the Churchies belefe concerning the blessed hoste of our daily oblation beholde that women in those dayes knew by the grounde of their constante faith that which our superintendents in their incredulity now a dayes can not confesse Consider how carefull all vertuous people were in the primitiue Church both learned and simple as to be present at the altar in their life time so after their death to be remembred at the same VVhose worthy indeuours as often as I consider and often truely I doe consider them I can not but lament our contrary affection which can neither abide the sacrifice the hoste nor the altar in our dayes and therefore can looke for no benefite thereby after the daye of our death once come vpon vs as our fore fathers both looked for and out of doubt had But leauing the peculiar consideration of such thinges to the good and well disposed let vs go forwarde in the fathers pathes and see whether this so well learned a clerke counted this zele of his olde mother blinde deuotion as we brutes thinke of our fathers holynesse now a dayes For which matter we shall finde that first euen as she desired the sacrifice of the Masse was offered for her not onely for the accomplishment of her godly request but because the Church of God did that office for all that was departed in Christ as we reade in sundry placies of this mans workes and as in the same booke of confessions he thus declareth and testifieth I leaue the Latine because the treatise growes to greater length then I was aware of at the beginning if I corrupte the meaning or intent of the writer let my aduersaries take it for an aduauntage thus he sayth therfore Neither did I weepe in the time of the prayers when the sacrifice of our price was offered for her not yet afterwarde when we were at our prayers likewise the corps standing at the graue side c. VVhereby euery reasonable man must needs acknowledge that both prayers and sacrifice was made for her as her meaning and godly request was before her passage she being thus therefore brought home with supplication and sacrifice solemnely was not yet forgotten of her happy childe But afterwarde he thus very deuoutly maketh intercession for her quiet rest Now I call vpon thee gratious Lorde for my deare mothers offensies geue eare vnto me for his sake that was the salue for our sinnes and was hanged vpon the crosse who sitteth on the right hand of God and maketh intercession for vs I know she wrought mercyfully and forgaue those that did offend her and nowe good God pardon her of her offensies which she by any meanes after her baptisme committed forgeue her mercyfull God forgeue her I humbly for Christes sake pray thee and entre not into iudgement with her but let thy mercy passe thy iustice because thy wordes are true and hast promised mercy to the mercyfull And in the same chapter a litle afterwarde he thus both prayeth him selfe for her and earnestly inuiteth other men to do the same in these wordes Inspire my lorde God inspire thy seruauntes my brethern thy children and my masters whome with will worde and penne I serue that as many as shall reade these maye remembre at thine altar thy hande mayden Monica And her laite husbaÌ„d Patricius through whose bodies thou brought me into this life and worlde Thus was that holy matrone by her good child made partaker after her death of the thing which she most desired in her life And him selfe afterwarde in his owne see of Hippo in Aphrike had sacrifice saide for him at his departure though the daye of his death fell at the pityfull hauocke which the Vandalles kept being Arians in those parties commaunding the christian Catholikes to be buried with out seruice as I saide before This blessed Bishop departing out of this life in the besiege of his owne Citie had notwithstanding oblation for his reste as Possidonius writing his life and present at his passage doth testifie Augustinus membris omnibus sui corporis incolumis integro aspectu atque auditu nobis astantibus videntibus ac cum eo pariter orantibus obdormiuit in pace cum patribus suis enutritus in bona senecture nobis coram positis pro eius commendanda corporis depositione sacrificium deo oblatum est sepultus est Augustine sayth he being sounde in his limmes neither his sight nor hearing fayling him I being then present and in his sight praying together with him departed this worlde in peace vnto his elders being continued till a fare age And so we being present the sacrifice for the commendacion of his rest was offered vnto God first and straight vpon that was he buried Thus loe all these fatâ—eâ—s taught thus they practised thus they liued and thus they dyed none was saued then but in this faith let no man looke to be saued in any other nowe 6 I haue sufficiently already declared what Augustine meaneth by the sacrifice of the altar the sacrifice of our price the sacrifice of breade and wine and what so euer name he geueth it beside He meaneth nothing else but the sacrifice of thankes geuing for the onely propitiatory sacrifice of Christ wherof the celebration of the sacrament is an effectuall memoriall and liuely remembraunce In Celebration of which sacrameÌ„t although the superstitious error of that time allowed prayers for the deade generally or speciall remembraunce of any in the prayers yet is it not the belefe of S. Augustine nor of any other in that time that the sacrament was the naturall body and bloude of Christ nor that the naturall body of Christ was there sacrificed as a propitiation of the sinnes either of the liuing or the deade Seeing therefore that he hath so plainely expounded what he meaneth by the name of sacrifice as I haue shewed in the beginning of this chapter it is to much folly vpon these vnproper but yet in that time vsuall termes to goe about to builde such blasphemous doctrine as afterwarde gâ—ue to be
diuers of the auncient fathers that the fall of the tree into the Southe parte maye signifie vnto vs the departure of man in the happy state of grace and the Northe side likewise the cursed and damnable state of the wicked and thaâ— he which passeth hense in either of these estates and condicions as euery lyuing man doth can not procure by other neither deserue by him selfe the chaunge of his happy lot or his vnluckie happe otherwise then in his life time he deserued That is to saye if he passe this worlde an electe person in the loue and grace of God he is out of doubt of all damnation or rather out of possibilitie to be reiected and so the case of the forsaken is vtterly remedilesse And further by that figuratiue speache you had not best on your owne head to be ouer bold least some Saducete of your sect gather the perpetuall reste of the bodye without all hope of resurrection I can not tell how it falleth but yet so it doth that your doctrine and arguments minister ouer much occasion of errour and that to the deceiued in the depest matters of our faith But I will rubbe you no more on that sore I warned you before to take heede to the resurrection 3 If we had no stronger testimonies then these and you no better aunswers then you make to these yet should not we haue so much cause to be abashed at our allegatioÌ„s as you to be ashamed of your confutations Your first aunswere is that the soules of men at that time continued not where they at the first fell but went first into the inferior partes which you call Lymbus patrum but neither Ezechias nor the Gospell knew any such place For Ezechias speaketh of the graue the Gospell of that place of comfort where the soules of the faithfull are in happy estate euen where Christ is But O learned Logitian that aunswereth one controuersie with an other as much controuersâ—d Nay stay a while the article of Christes descending into hell maketh all out of doubt If that be so why doe we not say that Christ descended into Abrahams bosome or into Lymbus patruÌ„ or seeing Christ sayd he would be in Paradise why say we not that he descended into paradise and seeing he commended his spirite into the hands of his father why say we not he descended into his fathers handes But because these be no absurdities that follow of M. Allen that papisticall assertion you shall heare Caluins absurd doctrine refuted by the sayd famous Clerke M. Allen with famous reasons He will aske for his aunsweres be questions what is it to be thought of those that were raysed from death to life seeing they receiued their first fall This were a pretty question for a Sophister in Oxeford to demaund in their parleis But the poore man tormenteth him selfe in vayne they which deny prayers to be profitable by that place of the wise man vnderstand the fall of the tree to the South or to the North to be the iudgement of God concerning euery man either of reward or of punishment which can not be altered after a mans death This restreyneth not God from working miracles and sending some to life againe but sheweth what the ordinary state of men is after their departure This place is of them that dye remaine in death vnto the day of the generall resurrection as for the other although they were dead yet they were appoynted to liue againe they fell in deede but to haue a particular rising but when they fell to abyde the generall rising they were in the same case with the rest But examples will make the matter cleare The soule of Lazarus was 4. dayes from his body M. Allen thinketh he was not in heauen for Christ loued him too well to bring him out of heauen and not that onely but to reduce him to the vncerteyne state of this life As though it were iniury to Lazarus to forbeare the ioyes of heauen for the short tyme of this life to become such a glorious example of the maiestie of Christes power and as though Christ which brought him to lyfe temporal was not able in the incerteinty of this life to preserue him to eternall life O prophane heathenish Sophister of Gods high mysteries But seeing you thinke M. Allen he was not in heauen where thinke you in your conscience he was in hell or in purgatory or in Abrahams bosome for you haue store of diuerse places if he were in hell you hold there had bene no redemption And it is not like that he whom Christ loued so well was 4. dayes in torment If you say he was in Abrahams bosome yet he was in comfort and certeinty of saluation then by your owne reason it is not like that Christ which loued him so well would abase his happy condition to bring him to the state of this life which is miserable and as you say vncerteyne yea he had bene better in purgatory for you holde he shoulde haue bene in certainety of saluation but so he was not when he returned to the vncerteine state of this life the like may be saide of Tabitha But these be foolish and vnlearned questions M. Allen which the Apostle willeth vs to auoyde as gendring strife rather then edificatioÌ„ And yet when you haue questioned about them all you can you shall neuer proue the common case of the departed in Christ by these fewe peculiar cases For when so euer and how so euer it pleased God that their soules remained it was determined of God that they shoulde be restored to their bodies And although there soules were in heauen and in happines as I doe not doubt but they were yet was it no iniurie nor hurt vnto them to serue the glory of god For I doubt not but as all the Godly in this life confesse it to be a parte of angelicke felicitie to be obediente to the will of God so those that were so raised from death so long as their secoÌ„d life continued caried in their hartes a heauenly fruition of the glory of God shining in their restitution and of their thankefull obedience submitting them selues to the will of god But when these matters passeth the reache of M. Allens sophystrie as of which he can prate much and define nothing he falleth to an other shifte that the fall into the southe signifieth the certainty of saluation that the elect be in after this life and the fall into the North the certainty of damnation that the wicked are in For though the elect be in purgatory yet they be in the fauour of God and certaine of saluation But this glosse corrupteth the texte for then they should alwayes lye in purgatory which is a warme south if it be as they saye for the certeinty or vncerteinty of their saluation is as great before they were borne as after they be deade It can not be therefore that the wise man speaketh thereof And because you cracke
of the exposition of the fathers Hieronym in his commentary vpon this place expoundeth the Northe and the Southe not for the states of grace or wrath but for the places of rewarde or punishment of them that die Si dignos Austro fructus attulit in plaga iacebit Australi Nec est aliquid lignum quod aut ad Aquilonem non sit aut ad Austrum If it haue brought forth fructes worthy of the South it shal lye in the Southe coste Neither is there any tree but it falleth either to the North or to the South As for your babling of the Saduces secte and doubting of the resurrection bidde your Popes and Cardinalls take heede of it Pope Iohn the 23. was condemned for it in the Councell of Constance Epicureisme and Saduceisme is more common at Rome then Christianitye 4 Nowe for the other texte recited out of S. Matthewes Gospell of the double waye the one to perdicion and the other to saluation there is almost none so simple but he seeth that it maketh no more for your purpose then the other For there as our aduersary can not but knowe though to deceiue he liste dissemble mention is made and the meaning is only of these two wayes in this worlde and life in one of which being full of ease and libertie the wicked walketh towardes hell or damnation In the which waye the riche man and vnmercifull tooke his time of whome Abraham said that he had receiued good in his dayes In the other being both straite and harde the small numbre of the chosen take their iourney towardes heauen And yet if you thinke good you maye ioyne the place of temporall punishment for sinne in the worlde to come to the straite and painefull passage of the elect though perhaps all they entre not thereby And so shall you finde this place not onely nothing to further their cause but somewhat to helpe ours 4 If there be but two wayes in this life there are but two abiding places after this life If there be more then two after this life then there be more wayes then two in this life Controll our Sauiour Christes partition as vnperfect if you list You will saye that needeth not for purgatory after this life is that straight gate or a pece of it what els It is not enough for our English Anaxagoras to exclude our opinion out of these places but he must finde purgatory in them also This is plaine to make quidlibet ex quolibet But the commaundement of Christ marreth the market of this interpretation vnlesse you thinke when Christ willeth vs to striue to goe in by the straight gate that he biddeth vs striue to goe into purgatory 5 And so for the other taken out of the fift to the Corinth S. Augustine shall aunswere you and beare me witnesse it maketh nothing for you his wordes be these in his Encheridion This practise that Gods Church vseth in the commendations of the deade is nothing repugnant to the sentence of the Apostle where he saith that we all shall stande before the iudgement seate of Christ that euery one may receiue according to his desertes in the body either good or euill for this in his life and before death he deserued that these workes after his death might be profitable vnto him for in deede they be not profitable for all men and why so but because of the difference and diuersitie of mens liues whilest they were in this flesh c. And this same sentence the Doctor often repeteth almost in the same forme of wordes in diuers places both to correct their ignorance that mighe take a way prayers for the deade because they finde the sentence of Gods iudgement to be executed on man according to the deseruing of this liefe and no lesse to geue monition to the carelesse that they omitte not to doe well in this life vppon hope or presumption of other mens workes after their decease which as they be exceding beneficiall to many so they helpe none such as in their owne life woulde not helpe them selues The like declaration of this pointe hath S. Denyse in the 7. chapter of his Ecclesiasticall soueraignty which I omitte lest in this point by S. Augustine sufficiently auouched I weerye the reader without cause 5 And S. Ieronym with your owne canon law shall aunswere you that prayers preuayle not after this life 13. q. 2. In praesenti In this present world we know that we may be helped one of an other either by prayer or by councel but when we shall come before the iudgement seate of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can intreate for any man but euery man must beare his owne burden 6 The last obiection of the Angells wordes in the Apocalypse aâ—firming the state of all those that dye in our Lorde to be happy to be past trauell and in reste and peace they be properly spoken there of holy men that sheede their bloude in the times of persecution for Christes sake to geue them assured comforte after a litle toleration and patience in the rage of Antichrist of blessed and eternall reste and so the circumstance of the letter plainely geueth and so doeth S. Augustine expounde it And for such holy Martyrs it is needlesse to pray as to pray vnto them is most profitable Albeit the wordes are true and maye be well verified of all that passe hense in the happy state of grace being past the cares of this troblesome worlde and which is the greatest trauell of all other vtterly dispatched of the toile that sinners take in their wayes of wickednesse with freedome from sinne and all feare of sinne and damnation for euermore So that this reste from labour is no more but a happy ioye of conscience with securitie of saluation and peace in Christ iesu For which cause in the holy Canon of the Masse it is saide Christianos dormire in somno pacis in Christo quiescere That Christian folkes doe sleepe in the sleepe of peace and rest in Christ though for all that in the same place we aske Requiem refrigerium reste and refreshing for them And this holy peace from all toyle of the worlde and worme of tormented conscience the electe children of God in their fathers correction being assured of his eternall loue doe blessedly enioye But the wicked be in contrary case of whome it is saide non est pax impijs there is no rest or quietnesse to the wicked no not in their dayes of ioye much lesse in their infinite miserie of their euerlasting torments in the worlde to come Of whose vnhappy state the Prophet warneth vs thus againe Impij quasi mare feruens quod quiescere non potest The wicked be right like vnto the tumblinge and tossinge sea that neuer resteth The place of S. Iohn then being namely spoken of holy Martyrs that straight with out all paine after this life passe to heauen may yet very
God and not of them and the sacrifice is the body of Christ which is not offered vnto them because they them selues are the same Here also beside building of churches note that no sacrifice ought to be offered to Martyrs but prayer is a sacrifice therefore it ought to be offered onely to god Secondly that Martyrs were not called vpon in tyme of the sacrifice but onely named for remembrance Thirdly that Altares were not builded in the honor of Martyrs or other Sainctes as they be in Popish churches as our Ladies altar S. Peters altar S. Laurences altar c. Fourthly that the bodie of Christ which he sayeth was the sacrifice that was offered was not the naturall body of Christ but his mysticall bodie because he sayeth the Martyrs and it are all one whereby it is manifest that he meaneth the sacrifice of thankes giuing offered to God for the redemption of his church by the death of Christ. Wherfore if this one place were well wayed it will interpret and aunswere all places of the auncient doctors where mention is made of sacrificing the body of Christ at the time of the communion But to returne to building of churches the same Augustine contra Maximinum Arrianum Lib. Titul 11. hath these wordes Nunc si templum alicui sancto angelo excellentissimo de lignis lapidibus faceremus anathematizar emin a veritate Christi ab Ecclesia Dei quoniam creaturae exhiberemus eam seruitutem quae vni tantum debetur Deo Si ergo sacrilegi essemus faciendo templum cuicunque creaturae quomodo non est Deus verus cui non templum facimus sed nos ipsi templum sumus that is If we shoulde builde a temple of wodde and stones to any holy and most excellent Angel shoulde we not be accursed from the Trueth of Christ and from the Church of God because we should shew that seruice vnto a creature which is due onely vnto God Therefore if we shoulde be sacrileges by making a temple to any creature how is he not true God to whome we doe not make a temple but we our selues are a temple If this be true how be not the Papistes accursed from the Trueth of Christ and from the Church of God which builde and vpholde churches to Angells as S. Michaels S. Gabriels c So that to builde churches as Papistes doe is church robbing or sacrilege Furthermore whereas you will vs to name one church whose chancell is not builded in all fashions to serue poperie First it is manifest that the first Churches which were builded for Christians had not the same fashion of chancels and other partes that most churches haue in Englande for that purpose reade the Panegyricall oration made before Paulinus byshop of Tyrus Euseb. lib. 10. cap. 4. In which is described the fashion of that church builded in that citie farre vnlike the moste parte of churches at this day in all partes and specially in the chaÌ„cel which was in the middest of that church a place compassed in with grates or wodden latesses called Cancelli wherof this worde chancel is deriued and the aultar stoode in the middest of it wherof some similitude remaineth yet in olde Cathedrall churches Contrariwise your chancells in most churches be at the East ende and the aulter hard at the wall there was also but one alter in that church but you in euery church must haue many it is certaine also in their church the Ministers and Deacons stoode rounde about the table or aâ—lter but so they can not about your aultars except some of them stande on the toppe of the wall or in the windowe Moreouer if you marke the most parte of olde churches in Englande you shall plainely see that the chancells are but additions builded sence the churches of likelihoode by the parsons that disdained to haue their place in the middest of the people as the olde manner was Also you may see some churches builded rounde as at London the Temple and another is at Cambridge of the same fashioÌ„ And some churches haue the steple at the Est ende very vnhandsomely for placing of the roode lofte Againe many churches haue crosse Isles in which the people can not see the chancell nor the high aultar which argueth that there was no vse of such chancells when they were builded For such churches as are latelie erected haue the chancell and church all of one building and are made of such fashion that men maye see the highe aultar in euery parte of them Beside this in the Orientall church as their ceremonies are diuers from yours so no doubt the fashion of their temples differeth from yours As for chalices the church in the beginning was coÌ„tent with wodden cuppes and then came Zepherinus and brought in the vse of glasses Acacius Amidenus is commended for selling the golden and siluer vessels of the church to redeme captiues Socrat. lib. 7. cap. 21. S. Ambrose also Offic. lib. 2. cap. 8. sayth the church hath golde not to kepe it but to be bestowed for necessarie vses for which it is lawfull to breake melt and sel euen the holyest vessells of all But of your church it is true that one said of olde time ye had wodden chalices and golden priestes but now you haue golden chalices and wodden priestes your vestimentes are of as good stuffe as your chalices The olde church knew none such but as your owne Authors write when they wente to celebrate they changed the affection of their minde rather than the garmentes of their body as Antoninus witnesseth of Fulgentius Howbeit we are content that your church by her gorgeous garments as well as by other thinges shoulde declare it selfe to be that woman which is described to be clothed in purple golde perles and such like ornamentes Apoc. 17. Finally wheras you will vs to name one church that for the speciall intent of the builders was not prepared in all sortes for Popish practises Although I could name many yet for examples sake I name Pantheon a church in Rome prepared by the speciall and onely intent of the builders foâ— Cybelle the great mother of the gods and for all false gods of the heathen which now is called the church of Mary and Alhalowes Then this church with many other in Rome and other places being monuments of the faith and religion of the Paganes and not of yours except yours and theirs be all one as they are very like you are bounde by your promise to recant The 15. article conteyneth in effect 3. demandes 1 Againe name any one company of men in the Christen world that in all articles of Faith be in one meaning and belefe IT is an easie matter to name diuers companies agreeing in one meaning beliefe as the church of the Grecians the church of the Aethiopians the church of the Chaldeans Moscouites c. But especially the whole company of Protestantes in Europe doe agree in all necessary articles of true faith by
God what were purgatory promoted thereby Forsoth then of necessitie it must be induced that some parte of these sufferinges are aunswerable in the next worlde to come what necessitie call you this euen such as he suffereth which being bounde hande and foote with a strawe can not steare to helpe him selfe But lette vs see this adamantine chayne of Maister Allens necessity If any punishment remayne it must needes ryse by proportion weyght continuaunce number and quantity which if it be not all discharged in this lyfe then it is to be aunswered in the lyfe to come By proportion Maister Allen What proportion Arithmeticall or Geometricall If it be by arithmeticall proportion then so many thousandes of sinnes whereof euery one deserueth one death must be punished by so many thousand deathes If by geometricall proportion then so many offences committed against that infinite maiesty can not be aunswered but by infinite and eternal punishment and which way so euer you take it by weight number time or measure it is euident that while you seeke for purgatory you haue founde out hell For otherwise saith the spirite of God in the person of the faithfull He hath not dealt with vs according to our sinnes neither rewarded vs after our iniquities Psal. 103. But as heauen is aboue the earth so great is his mercy as a father hath compassion on his children so hath the Lorde compassion on them that feare him This is an other maner of proportion M. Allen then you Papists can skill of which thinke such a necessity to be of this conclusion that if any sinnes be punished in this life they must be punished after this life also For if nothing but iustice be sought against sinnes then followeth nothing but eternal damnation if mercy may moderat the matter what necessity is in this consequence some sinnes are sometime punished in this life ergo in the life to come Thus I haue reasoned supposing that any man had graunted that the iustice of God must be satisfied with our sufferings in this life for I my selfe had rather see the Pope at the deuill then I would affirme the sufferings of Christ to be vnsufficient to aunswere perfectly the iustice of god But behold christian reader the blasphemy of these popish serpents first they will seeme in wordes throughly to acknowledge the benefite of Christes passion lest that euery man that heareth them speak should spit at them When they haue thus obtained audience then they will gather in them selues begin in some part to diminish the perfection therof so proceede vntill they haue in deede though not in wordes cleane excluded Christ and all his merits whereof thou hast a plaine example in this hipocrite who in the beginning of his first chapter confesseth liberally the effect of Christes death â–ª afterward restraineth the force thereof to sinnes committed before baptisme then bringeth in punishment for aunswering the iustice of God in this life afterward extendeth the same vnto the life to come last of all estemeth the punishment by proportion weight continuance number quantity of the faults committed which of necessity thrusteth backe againe the sinnes into eternall torments And what then becommeth of the propitiation for our sinnes purchased vnto vs by the bloud of the sonne of God 2 S. Paule in playne words writeth Corpus mortuum est propter peccatum stipendium peccati mors est The body is dead because of sinne and death is the reward of sinne And so of Dauid because thou hast slayne Vrias Non recedet gladius de domo tua saith the Scripture The sword shall not depart thy house And againe because thou hast made the enemies blaspheme my name thy child shall dye And of the people of Israell Visitabo hoc peccatum eorum I will visite this sinne of theirs also Yet in this light of Scripture whereas the punishment is named so it is expresly mentioned that sinne is the proper cause thereof the aduersary seeketh a blinde mist to dase the simplicity of the reader and to maintaine errour It helpeth our cause exceding much that the very shew of an argument driues them to such vnseemely shiftes S. Augustines wordes shall for me sufficiently refute this errour Veritatem dilexisti impunita peccata eorum etiam quibus ignoscis non reliquisti He speaketh to God in the Prophets person Thou loues righteousnes hast not left vnpunished no not the sinnes of them whom thou louest Notwithstanding this is very true that all these afflictions though they come of sinne aâ—d for the rewarde of mans offences yet God of mercy turneth them to the exercise of vertue and benefite of such as shal be saued But it is one thing to dispute of what cause they come and an other to reason of the wisedom of God in the vse of the same VVho as the said Augustine witnesseth is so mighty in his prouident gouernaunce that he is able to turne euen the very sinnes them selues to the benefite of such as by grace and mercy shal be raised vp to saluation And much more is he ready to frame the punishment which he him selfe of iustice worketh for correction of sinners to the saluation of the elect 2 This peace should proue that the fatherly rodde of Gods mercy is a sword of his iustice to punish those sinnes that are remitted But what maner of proues bringeth he S. Paule he sayth in plaine wordes writeth the body is deade because of sinne and death is the reward of sinne In deede S. Paule writeth so but is the mercy of God turned therfore into iustice or his rodde into a sworde or he from a mercifull father into an angry iudge to omit howe vnfitly he ioyneth these 2. places togither whose sense is so farre differing for in the former saying Rom. 8. he speaketh of the relicks of sinne that are not altogither abolished in them that are regenerate in the latter Rom. 6. he sheweth that they which serue sinne deserue eternall damnation what is this to the proofe of his conclusion but his purpose was onely to make some shewe of variety of places for by and by he returneth to the places alleged and aunswered before of Dauid and of the people of Israell whereunto he adioyneth the saying of Augustine that God leaueth not the sinnes of them vnpunished whome he hath pardoned One aunswere serueth al if there were ten times as much of this sort That God punisheth not to satisfie his iustice but to shew his mercy toward his children to bring them to repentaunce to humble them to make them beware of the like sinnes to admonish others by their example but in no wise that they should make a mendes by due punishment for that which by transgression was committed which aunswere howsoeuer he would seeme to eleuate by wordes yet he bringeth no matter against it but euen the places by him selfe alleged in the chapter before which either all or almost all doe
patrum which they say is but an edge and border of hell But Christ maketh hell one place and Abrahams bosome an other and not that onely but the one farre from the other yea a great distaunce betwene the one and the other therfore no edge nor border of hell but a place of comfort an high place for the rich man loketh vp and seeth a farre of Lazarus in the bosome of Abraham who was a true childe of Abraham by fayth for fayth maketh children vnto Abraham Rom. 4. And euen as faith was imputed to Abraham so is it to all that be his children by fayth as well as it was to Abraham if righteousnes belongeth to Abrahams children the reward of righteousnes also pertayneth vnto them therefore Abrahams bosome was open to receiue all the children of Abraham euen as the bosome of God was ready to receiue Abraham because he was his sonne through fayth And now to confute your vaine reasons which eyther be manifest wrestinges of the holy Scripture or else are builded vpon the authority of mortall men First you allege that the place into which Christ descended was called a lake without water in which the godly fathers were Zachary 9. but this is so euident an abusing of the word of God that he which doth only reade that verse of Zachary in the originall tongue must needes confesse that those wordes haue an other sense for God there contineweth his speaking to Ierusalem or the daughter of Syon saying he hath deliuered her prisoners by the bloud of her couenant from the lake without water that is from miserable and desperate captiuity where appeared no comfort For the pronoune thou is of the feminine gender wherefore it is most cleare that this is not spoken of Christ but of the Church of christ As for the common translation which turneth the feminine gender into the masculine the first person into the second with manifest deprauation of the sense is not to be admitted in this case Nowe that prison which you bring out of 1. Pet. 3. is the prison of the damned soules into which S. Peter doth not say that Christ descended but that he came in the daies of Noe by his spirite and preached to those that were then disobedient and therefore are their spirites now in perpetuall prison and torment And this is the true and naturall sense of S. Peters wordes which by meanes of that predicate errour rather then of any great obscurity in them hath bene diuersly wrested by expositors The wordes of Irenaeus may be well vnderstoode of Christes comming downe from heauen to saue mankind which deserued iust condemnation for sinne rather then of his descending into hel and the name of Adam seemeth to be taken in these wordes rather for a noune common then for a proper name He hath wordes towards the latter ende of the fift booke that sound more like to this matter where he sayth Cum enim Dominus in medio vmbrae mortis abierit vbi animae mortuorum erant post deinde corporaliter resurrexit post resurrectionem assumptus est manifestum est quia discipulorum eius propte◠quos haec operatus est Dominus animae abibunt in inuisibilem locum definitum eis à Deo ibi vsque ad resurrectionem commorabuntur Seing the Lord went in the middest of the shadow of death where the soules of the dead were and afterward arose corporally and then was taken vp it is manifest that the soules of his disciples for whom the Lorde wrought these thinges shall goe into an inuisible place appoynted for them by God and there shall tarry vntill the resurrection Neuertheles out of these wordes can nothing be necessarily enforced but that the soule of Christ when he was deade was in the place of the godly that were deade before him which no man denyeth If you vrge that he was in the middest of the shadow of death I aunswere that is a phrase of the Scripture signifying that he was verely dead and that death had him in possession after which maner of speach S. Peter sayth that God raysed him agayne loosing the sorrowes of death and you your selfe count it a blasphemy to say that he suffered any torments in hell after his death and Irenaeus him selfe affirmeth that it was such a place as all his disciples shall rest in vntill the time of the generall resurrection which plainly ouerthroweth your fantasy Eusebius Emissenus helpeth you as litle as Irenaeus for he speaketh rhetorically of the glorious victory that Christ obtained against hel the power of darkenes by his death and passion and descending into hell whose words if you would expounde grammatically you will make a mad sense of them he shal be smally beholding vnto you But it is plaine enough except it be to him that wil seeke confirmation of errors out of that which is truely spoken that he meaneth that the effect and power of Christes death mightely vanquished the power of hell eternal damnation not which it had actually ouer the godly but which by the iustice of God it should haue had if his sacrifice had not purchased mercie And therfore he saieth Aeterna nox the euerlasting night which adiectiue is referred also to the gnashing cheines of the damned For it was eternall not temporall damnation from which they were deliuered by Christes death And therfore that fond shift which M. Allen imagineth which he saith may seeme like to be the authors meaning is not worth a straw as being enforced and brought to the wordes by him not expressed in them by Eusebius But when these wil not helpe the supposal of S. Augustine is set downe which because it is but the authority of a man him not constant with him selfe alwayes it is not of sufficient weight to beare downe the testimony alleged out of Gods word The same man contra Felicianum ad Optatum cap. 15. writeth these words Si igitur mortuo corpore ad paeradisum anima mox vocatur quenquam ne adhuc tam impium credimus qui dicere audeat quoniam anima saluatoris nostri triduo illo corporeae mortis apud inferos custodiae mancipitur If therefore the body being dead the soule is immediatly called to paradise beleue we yet that there is any man so vngodly that he dare say that our Sauiours soule in that 3. daies of his bodily death was committed to prison in hel c. In these words he semeth vtterly to deny that he came in that prison of hel You wil say he denieth that he tarried there so long but not that he came not there at all But then marke this reason if the soules of good mē immediatly are called to paradise much more was Christes soule immediatly receiued into paradise who committed the same into his fathers handes 5 Let the enemies of Gods trueth come now and denie if they cā for shame that Gods iustice for sinnes remitted reacheth not sometimes
vs entre into the search of the meaning of these two textes with such plainnes sincerity that I dare say the aduersaries them selues shall not mislike our dealing VVe will follow all likelihoodes by comparing the scriptures together and admit with all the counsell and iudgement of such our elders as by their confession shall be taken for holy learned and wise First the prophet and Apostle both make mention of purging of purifying sinne corruption of mans impure or defiled workes they both agree this cleansing or trying out of the filthy drosse gathered by corruption of sinne to be done by fier they both throughly follow the similitude of the fornace and goldesmith in fining his metalles and trying out the drosse and base matter from the perfect finesse of more worthy substaunce they both plainely vtter their meaninges of such as shall afterwarde be saued though it be with losse geuing vs to vnderstande that the parties so purged shall be after their triall worthy to offer a pure sacrifice in holynesse righteousnes They both note this purgatiō to be wrought by the hand of God. All these must needes be confessed euen of the cōtrary teachers which things together cōteine more probability for the proofe of our purpose then they can for any other sense finde But now touching the text neerer and finding that this worke of mans amending shall be wrought in the next life then it must nedes so induce this sense that no meaning may well be admitted which euidently setteth not forth the trueth of Purgatory And that this worke is not properly taken for any such trouble or vexation that may fall to man in this life but for a very torment prepared for the next worlde first the quality of the iudgement meanes in the executiō of that sentence of God which is named to be done by fier seemeth rather to import that then any other vexation the punishment of the worlde following alwayes lightely so termed Then man is in this purging onely a sufferer which belongeth namely to the next worlde But especially that this sentence shal be executed in the day of our Lord which properly signifieth either the day of our death or the sentence of God which streight followeth vpon death or the last and generall iudgement All the time of mans life wherein he followeth his freedome is called Dies Hominis the day of man because as man in this life for the most parte serueth his owne will so he often neglecteth Gods but at his death there beginneth Dies Domini VVhere God executeth his ordinaunce and will vpon man This triall then of mans misdeedes impure workes must either be at his death or after his departure by one of the two iudgements But if we note diligently the circumstances of the saide letter it shall appeare vnto vs that this purgation was not ment to be onely at mans death both because it shall be done by fire which as is saide commonly noteth the torment of the next life and then S. Paule expressely warneth vs to take heede what we builde in respect of the difference that may fall to such as builde fine workes and other that erect vpon the foundation impure or mixte matter of corruption but the paines of death being common to the best as well as to the worst or indifferent and no lesse greuous in it selfe to one then the other can not be imported by the fire which shall bring losse to the one sort and not paine the other Besides all this that day which the Prophet speaketh of shall be notorious in the sight of the worlde and very terrible to many And Saint Paule plainely affirmeth that in this iudgement there shall be made an open shewe of such workes as were hidde before from man and not discerned by the iudgement of this worlde which the priuate death of one man can not do And lightely the Apostle warning man of the sentence of God in the next life admonisheth him that our deedes must be laide open before the iudgement seate of God so here Dies domini declarabit quia in igne reuelabitur the day of our Lord will open the matter because it shall be shewed in fire Last of all the Prophet nameth the time of this sharp triall Diē aduētus domini which is a proper calling of one of the iudgements either that which shall be generall at the last day or els that which euery man must first abide straight after his departure when he shall be called to the peculiar reckening for his owne actes In either of which iudgements this purging and amending fire shall be founde For as in that generall wast of the whole world by the fire of conflagration which is called ignis praecedens faciem iudicis because it awaiteth to fulfill Christes ordinance in the day of his second comming as in that fier the whole man both body and soule may suffer losse extreme paine for his punishment or purgation and yet by that same fire be saued euen so out of doubt at this particulare iudgement straight vpon euery mans death the soule of the departed if it be not before free must suffer paines and Purgation by the like vehement torment working onely vpon the soule as the other shall do on the whole man And the Prophets wordes now alleged do meane principally of the purgation that shall be made of the faithfuls corrupted workes by the fier of conflagration in the second comming of Christ though his wordes well proue the other also as S. Paule too meaneth by them both 3 Now I trow commeth the confirmation of purgatory out of the holy Scriptures or else it wyll neuer come when two textes are alleged at once But although M. Allen hath rather craftily confounded then faithfully compared these two textes together for all his protestation of plaine dealing yet will I seuerally consider them and shew both by the plaine circumstances of the places them selues and also by the iudgement of the auncient doctors that neither of them both appertaineth any whit to purgatory First Malachy prophecieth plainly of the first comming of Christ and of his fore runner Iohn Baptist as the wordes going before without all controuersy doe declare Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seeke shall spedely come to his temple euen the messenger of the couenaunt whom ye desire beholde he shall come sayth the Lord of hostes but who may abide the day of his comming c. witnesse of this is no lesse then euen our Sauiour Christ him selfe Luke the 7. alleging this saying of the Prophet for the comming of Iohn the Baptist. These wordes also where it is sayd that the Lord shall come into his temple doe sufficiently declare that he describeth the office of Christ in reforming the corrupt state of the Church at his first comming and not in iudging the quicke and the dead
to wit that euen the same selfe men which shall be purged must afterwarde offer to God the sacrifice of iustice that being once thus amended of their vnrighteousnesse in which their offeringes could not be acceptable vnto God may afterwarde in pure and perfect iustice offer them selues as a most pleasaunt hoste and oblation vnto our lord But this question of purgatory paines I will differ to a further treaty hereafter All this hath S. Augustine VVhereby we may both acknowledge his minde and the Prophets meaning which according to the grace geuen vnto him in the expounding of Scriptures he hath sought out by conference of that place with other the like out of Esay by weying discretly the whole circumstance of the letter finally by comparing of the other meaning which to some might haue bene reckened apte and mete for that place In all which doing he was as farre from rashe iudgement as our newe doctors be from good aduisement But because he referreth vs to the further discussing of the same matter afterward in the named worke it shal be to our purpose not a litle to haue this dictors full minde constant iudgement therein In the xxj booke after much matter vttered and very deepe discussing of the cause he maketh this grouÌ„ded Conclusion Temporales poenas alij in hac vita tantum alij post mortem alij nunc nuÌ„c veruntameÌ„ ante illud saeuerissimuÌ„ nouissimúmque iudiciuÌ„ patiuntur Non autem omnes veniuÌ„t in sempiternas poenas quae post illud iudiciuÌ„ his sunt futurae qui post mortem sustinent temporales nam quibusdam quod in isto noÌ„ remittitur remitti in futuro saeculo id est ne futuri saeculi aeterno supplicio puniaÌ„tur iam supra diximus Temporall paines that is to say punishment which shall haue an end some men suffer in this life some other after their death other some both now then But all this before the day of iudgement that is the greatest and last of all other iudgements not all that be teÌ„porally punished after their departure come into paines perpetuall which shall be after the generall daye for we haue already declared that there be certaine which haue remission in an other worlde that is to say a pardon that they be not punished euerlastingly that had not forgeuenesse in this By these wordes we may be assured that as in the next life there be paines endelesse and perpetuall for the wicked so in the same worlde after our ende here there must needes be some transitory punishment and correction for such of the meane sorte as shall afterwarde be saued And againe he speaketh as I take it of the fier of Conflagration that shall in the latter day purge some that be meane and wast other that be wicked and sende them from that present punishment to further eternall damnation I will recite his owne wordes that ye may perceiue the perpetuall constancy of this excellent mans minde in this matter It shall also be a testimonie sufficient for the vnderstanding of S. Pauls wordes nowe before alleaged Si aedificauerit super fundamentum ligna foenum stipulam id est mores saeculares fundamento fidei suae super aedificauerit tameÌ„ si in fundamento sit Christus primum locuÌ„ ipse habeat in corde ei nihil omnino anteponatur porteÌ„tur tales Veniet caminus inceÌ„det ligna foenuÌ„ stipulam ipse inquit saluus erit sic tamen quasi per ignem Hoc aget caminos alios in sinistram â—eparabit alios in dexteram quodammodo eliquabit If any man erect vpon the foundatioÌ„ woodde hay or straw that is to say worldely affections vpon the groundewarke of his sayth if yet Christ be in the foundation and beare the greatest stroke in his harte so that nothing be preferred before him such may well be borne withall for the fiery fornace shall come burne the wood hay and stooble shall be saued as the Apostle saith though it be for all that through the fier that fornace then shall parte some to the lift hande and try forth other if a man may so tearme it to the right hande 2 The first place is geuen vnto Augustine because he is in a maner confessed to be a patrone of some of our opinions though he be not of all This doctor in his 20 booke de ciuitate dei is saide to expound the texte of Melachy as M. Allen hath doen of the paines of purgatory But reade the place with indifferent iudgement who so can and will and he shall plainely perceiue that Augustine speaketh not of M. Allens purgatory which is said to be immediatly after mens death but of certaine purging paines which he supposeth some shall suffer at the last daye of Gods generall iudgement and yet he is so vncertaine of that exposition that he doubteth whether this purging whereof the Prophet speaketh may not be vnderstoode of that seperation which shal be of the godly from the wicked in that daye Howbeit 21. booke cap. 13. of the same worke he concludeth very cleerely that some suffer temporall paines after this life This maye not be denyed but how vnconstant Augustine was in his error appereth by this that sometime he doubteth whether there be any such matter other whiles he seemeth plainely to deny all other receptacles of the soules departed beside heauen and hell For both in his Enchiridion ad Laurentium cap. 69. de octo Dulcitij in quaestionibus quaest 1. he sayeth that as it is not incredible that such a matter may be after this life so it may be doubted whether it be so or no. Likewise in his booke de fide operibus cap. 16. he hath these wordes speaking of that texte to S. Paule 1. Corinthians 3. Siue ergo in hac vita tantum homines ista patiuntur siue etiam post hanc vitam talia iudicia subsequantur non abhoâ—ret quantum arbitror a ratione veritatis iste intellectus huius sententiae Whether men suffer these things in this life only or whether such iudgements follow after this life also the vnderstanding of this sentence abhorreth not as I thinke from the waye of trueth Againe in Hypognost contra Pelagianos lib. 5. he acknowledgeth the kingdom of heauen for to receiue the godly and hell fire for the punishment of the wicked but a third place sayth he we are altogither ignoraunt of neither doe we finde it in the holy Scriptures He writeth against the Pelagians that imagined a third place for the rest of infants that were not baptised but the same reason serueth as well against the popish purgatory because we finde it not in the holy Scriptures to the like effect he writeth de verbis Apostoli sermone 14. where he acknowledgeth the right hand and the left hand of God that is the kingdom of heauen and the paynes of hell the midle place he vtterly denyeth wherein infantes may
should pray yet she should not be heard euen of men remayning in this life your second reason as I conceiue it is that so long as men are in â—his world they may repent then sinne is not to death Therfore S. Iohn meaneth that they that dyed without bond of deadly sinne are to be prayed for your antecedent as before is false for the Apostle to the Hebrewes the sixt chapter sheweth that there be some which sinne so horribly in this life that it is vnpossible for them to be renewed by repentaunce So that your exposition being both voyd of authoritie and contrary to the manifest word of God of none that is wise or godly can be receiued Beside this the whole context of S. Iohns wordes doe plainly declare that he speaketh of prayers for the brethern that are liuing and not for them that are dead But I am to blame to spende so many wordes in a matter so manifest If the holy Ghost had euer allowed prayer for the dead he would once at the lest haue vttered the same plainly in holy canonicall Scriptures But Tertullian as wise a man as M. Allen affirmeth as we heard before that prayer for the deade hath no foundation in the Scriptures 2 To this place also S. Augustine disputing in his booke de ciuitate dei that praiers profiteth not all men departed alludeth or rather leaneth vnto it as a sure grouÌ„d against the Origenistes that woulde haue Gods mercy by mans prayers obteined for the wicked soules deceased after this sort Si qui autem vsque ad mortem habebunt cor impoenitens nec ex inimicis conuertuntur in filios numquid iam pro eis id est pro talium defunctorum spiritibus orat ecclesia cur ita nisi quia iam in parte diaboli computantur qui dum essent in corpore non sunt translati in Christum If there be any that till death continue in stubborne impenitency of hearte and of enemies to Gods Church will not be made children doeth the Church make intercession for such that is to say for the soules of them being departed in that state and why prayeth she not for them but because they be nowe reckoned for the deuills lot being deade that woulde not moue to Christes part when they were in their bodies And this is the cause that for such as in desperatioÌ„ destroy them selues by any kind of wilfull or violent death or in the stubborne maintenance of heresie offer them selues to be extirpate as well out of the society of mans life as out of the coÌ„munioÌ„ of the Christian company our holy mother the Church who by her practise is the best construer of Gods worde neuer vseth any meanes for their quiet rest VVheron there is a holy decree of Councell in this sense qui sibi ipsis quolibet modo culpabili inferunt mortem nulla pro illis fiat commemoratio neque cum psalmis sepeliantur All those that by any vnlawfull way procure their owne death let no commemoration be had of them nor be brought home with psalmes The which hath ben both diligently obserued euer amongest Christians and for terrour of the wicked often by holy Canons renewed VVherof there is no other cause but this that such persons being at the ende cut of the common bodie can receiue no vtility of that where vnto they are not nor now can not be ioyned And as in that case where Gods Church hath plaine presumption of any persons euerlasting perishing either by continuance in infidelitie out of her happy family or by heresie and separation of him selfe till the last ende leaping out of her holy lappe where he once was before or being and continuing with some open euidence thereof an vnprofitable membre and a deade branche as I saye in any plaine proofe of these thinges the Church neuer practiseth for his rest because she neither hath hope of getting any grace nor meanes to conuey any benefite vnto such as be not in the limmes of life so if our saide carefull mother doe bestow of her customable kindnesse all her godly meanes vpon those whome she knoweth not otherwise but in finall piety and penitence to haue passed this life and yet in deede before God to whome onely all secrets of mans hearte be perfectly open dyed as abiectes and outcastes in sinne and impenitencie she can not for all that any whit helpe their estate so miserable nor appeace Gods wrath towarde them being now out of the time of deseruing out of the Churchies lappe effectually and finally separated from the chosen people and out of the compaesse of grace and mercie Much lesse any priuate mans prayer can be any thing at all beneficiall to his freinde or other that dyed not in Gods fauour whose payne can neither be finished nor by any of these ordinary meanes one moment released or lessened Yet euery good faithfull person must imitate the diligence of Gods Church herein that ceaseth not both to offâ—â— and pray for all sortes with in her limites that be hense in any likelyhood of repentaunce departed who hadde rather they shoulde abounde to the needelesse then at any time lacke for the reliefe of such that might wante them 2 All this discourse is needelesse to proue that prayers profit not the infidels or the impenitent against them that beleue that the soules of the faithfull the repentant are where Christ is as he prayeth Ioan. 17. Father I will that those whome thou hast gyuen me where I am they also maye be with me that they may see my glory And euen so he sayeth to the theefe no perfect iuste man but a sinner repentant This daye thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luke 23. And S. Paule desireth to be dissolued and to be with Christ Philip. 1. This is the fayth of the Church of Christ and these be the groundes of our fayth voide of all doubtfulnesse obscurity sophistry and variable sentence of deceiuable men builded vpoÌ„ the certaine foundation of the eternall word of God The authoritie of Augustine proueth that the Church prayed not in his time for the spirits of infidells But the Councell Bracharense as afterwarde I shall more plainely shewe doth insinuate that no prayers were made at all for the soules of the departed in their Church at their burialls but onely a remembrance of them in prayers with thankesgeuing and singing of Psalmes For purgatory shoulde seeme had not yet trauelled into spaine But touching this assertion of M. Allen that those which dye out of the fauour of God as infidells and such like are not to be prayed for whose payne can neither be finished nor one moment released or lessened by any of these meanes what saye you then to Gregory the first byshop of Rome which with his vehement prayer as your owne Damascene and many others doe witnesse deliuered the soule of Traianus the heathen Emperour from Hell whereof there riseth a great controuersie among your doltish
vnapte to receiue comforth thereby yet these holy appointed remedies are both comfortable and meritorious to the geuers and procurers as blessinges which are not lost but turne againe to the bestowers For the profit of other or the onely will to relicue other is a singular deserte and meanes of merite to a mans selfe Full truely saide Damascene that this carefull helpe seruing of others mens lackes is much like to the paine which one taketh in anoynting with a precious baulme an other mans body which as he tempereth in his hande to bestowe vpon an other it first redoundeth in verdure and vertue to him selfe and then passeth by him to the vse of his neighbour for whome principally it was prepared 3 These matters stand all vpon a false supposition that any prayers are auailable for the deade which when it can not be proued it is in vayne to shewe who taketh profit by them who not who more and who lesse and what becommeth of those prayers that be offered for either them that neede no helpe or that can not be helped We learne out of Gods worde that what so euer we doe pray for according to Gods will we shall obteyne 1. Iohn 5. therefore this one hatchet shall cut asunder all these knottes prayers for the dead are not according to the will of God and therfore they are not heard at al for immediatly after death as M. Allen him selfe confesseth followeth iudgement but prayers eyther neede not or boote not when the party is eyther acquited or condemned by the sentence of the iudge which as Augustine sayth can not be indifferent betwene rewarde punishment De libero arbitrio lib. 3. cap. 23. 4 But notwithstanding this free procurement and liberall graunt of common helpes in the departeds case euen there where it is vncertaine whether they take effect or no the Church yet doth not onely absteine from sacrifice and request for such as doe openly appeare to sinne vnto death as the Apostle sayth but some times for punishment of certeine contemptes and disobedience in some persons she forbeareth these meanes euen there where she might proffet the departed peradueÌ„ture cleane discharge him of sinne and paine with all VVhich she doth by merueillous graue authoritie to the great terror of offenders That by the greuous punishment of certaine many might learne to be carefull and wise Greate is the authoritie of Gods ministers suerly and heuy is their hand often vpon sinners alwayes to edifie and neuer to deâ—troie VVhat a straunge force had Peters wordes that droue â—owne to death for dissimulation man and wife almost both at a lappe what a horrible dreadfull iudgement practised Paule â—n geuing vp some to Satan him selfe for sinne howe sharply â—id the primitiue Church execute iudgement vpon greuous ofâ—enders whome some times after many yeares separation from the comfortable receiuing the sacraments they woulde hardely admit at their last ende to the fellowship therof But no where could the maiesty of Gods Church appeare with more terrour then in this case when she dischargeth certaine for their punishment of all common helpe by prayers oblation and sacrifice after their departure though they otherwise dyed in the fauour of God as I take it might be of the chosen company that shall be saued And that punishment was nothing els but a keping of them in longer correction and paine for their sinne vnder Gods scourge in the next worlde for the admonishment of others in that case to beware whiles she would not vse her ordinary meanes for their release A notable example we haue thereof out of a Councell holden in Affricke the decree of which assemblie S. Cyprian him selfe with a practise in the execution thereof reporteth in the first booke of his epistles VVhere he willeth that one Victor who had made Geminus Faustinus being a priest against the ordre taken in the Councell of Aphrike the executor of his testament shoulde therefore haue no prayers of the clergie nor sacrifice after his departure saide or done for him For in that time of greate persecution such instant prayers so often sacrifice the scarsity of ministers the peoples necessity required that the priests shoulde perpetually with out all exception of worldly affayers serue the altar But you shall heare this blessed Martyrs or rather his wordes together with the Councells ordinaunce Victor cum contra formam nuper in consilio a sacerdotibus daâ—aÌ„ Geminum Faustinum presbyterum ausus sit actoreÌ„ constituere non est quò pro dormitione eius apud vos fiat oblatio aut deprecatio nomine eius in ecclesia frequentetur vt sacerdotum decretum religiose necessariò factum seruetur a nobis simul caeteris fratribus detur exemplum ne quis sacerdotes ministros dei altari eius ecclesiae vacantes ad seculares molestias deuocet In English thus Seeing Victor against the ordre taken of late in a holy Synode of priestes hath made Geminus Faustinus the cheefe doeâ— in the execution of his will and testament let it be prouided that there be no oblation there with you for his reste nor yet any prayers in his behalfe in the Church that the decree of the priestes before sayde maye be religiousely obserued and executed by vs That thereby all other our bretherne maye beware by his example howe they withdrawe suche as shoulde serue the authour to entangle them selues with worldely affaires 4 Now commeth a cumbersome case that whereas he had affirmed before in the beginning of this capter that there is no crime so greeuous that man may commit in the course of this life but the Church vseth prayers accustomably therefore in which affirmation he includeth sinne against the holy Ghost also nowe he findeth in Cyprian a place where prayers and sacrifice as he thinketh were denyed to him which had committed but a small fault in it selfe and such as Priestes doe now adayes commonly incurre namely to be an executer of mens testamentes But the matter seemeth to be farre otherwise then M. Allen doth take it Cyprian in the 6. Epistle of his first booke reporteth that there was a decree made in the assembly of the Church before his tyme that no brother departing out of this life should name any of the clergy to be his executor or ouerseer of his will. Ac si quis hoc fecisset non offerretur pro eo nec sacrificium pro dormitione eius celebraretur Neque enim ad altare Dei meretur nominari in sacerdotum prece qui ab altari sacerdotes ministros suos Leuitas auocare voluit ideò c. And if any had done so there should be no offering for him nor sacrifice for his falling a sleepe so they called departing out of this life should be celebrated For he is not worthy to be named at the aultar of God in the prayer of the Priestes which would call away his Priestes ministers the Leuites from the
iustice of God to them that haue there reason rightly reformed it seemeth altogether vnreasonable So vpholden with scripture Neuer once mentioned in scripture and so confessed by Tertullian one that leaned to some parte of your cause so he ordered in all pointes So patched together like a beggers cloke with so many peeses of so many colours one patch out of Tertullian an other out of Augustine an other out of Gregory an other out of Damascene many stolen out of the monkes cowle and sayed to be geuen by Clemens Athanasius and such like some rent awaye violently against the owners willes as from Origen Cyprian the Councells of Vase and Carthage and no small peeses out of drousy dreames and mockadoe miracles narrations and relations c. I promise you a goodly ordered cause But of Cyprians time we must saye the trueth and shame the deuill so we will and shame the Pope to his eldest sonne It was such time M. Allen as Cyprian byshoppe of Carthage thought him selfe equall with Cornelius and Stephanus byshoppes of Rome 1. lib. epist. 1. cap. 4. de simplicitate praelatorum c. It was such a time that Cyprian taught that fayth onely doth profit to saluation To. 2. ad Quirin cap. 42. And that he beleeued not in God at all which placeth not the trust of all his felicity in him onely De duplici martyrio Yea it was such time that Cyprian woulde haue nothing doen in the celebration of the Lords Supper and namly in ministring of the cuppe but that Christ him selfe did lib. 2. epist. 3. And yet it was such a time also as Cyprian and all the byshoppes of Africa decreed in Councel that those whcih were baptised by heretikes should be baptised againe And therefore it was no such time but that he and all his fellowes though they held the foundation of Christ yet might and did erre in some opinions contrary to the trueth of Gods worde And where you aske whether the time of ignoraunce that we limitte for our walke doth rech so high as Cyprian his time I woulde you knewe we walke not in ignoraunce of any time but in the knowen path of Gods word which is higher then Cyprians or any mortall mans time But the time of ignoraunce which is limited for your walke that call ignoraunce the mother of deuotion first is all beside the path of Gods worde and then euen from the time that the misterie of iniquitie beganne to worke 2. Thess. 2. Euen vntill the time that Antichrist was openly shewed in the full power of darkenesse in all times when so euer and where so euer was any peese of miste or darke corner though all the rest were light there were the steppes of your walke As euen in the Apostles time when the superstition of Angells beganne to be receiued there was one steppe of your waye which you holde euen to this daye Colos. 2. And from that time the deuill neuer lefte to set in his foote for his sonne Antichristes dominion vntill he had placed him in the temple of God and prepared the wyde world for his walke VVhat that holy sacrifice is vvhich vvas euer counted so beneficiall to the liue and dead The punishement of our sinnes by the heuy losse thereof The great hatered vvhich the deuill and all his side hath euer borne tovvardes Christes eternall priesthoode and the sacrifice of the Church And that by the saide sacrifice of the Masse the soules departed are especially relieued CAP. VIII 1 ANd nowe we must fall in hande with the good Christian Catholike for the search of this so often named sacrifice so comfortable to the liue so profitable to the deade and what that oblation is which the holy Catholike Apostolike Church hath euer vsed through out the worlde for the sinnes of the departed in place of the offeringes of the law and that sacrifice which Iudas Machabeus made and procured at Hierusalem for the offensies of his people that perished in battle Surely it is no other but the sacrifice of our Mediatour as S. Augustine termeth it and the offering vpon the altar It is no other then that oblation which so fully and liuely expresseth the death and passion of Christ Iesus VVho being once offered by the sheeding of his blessed bloud for the redemption of man kinde hath wrought such a vertuous effect not onely in the holy sacraments for the giuing of grace and remission of sinnes but also hath lefte in a merueillous mistery his owne holy and blessed body and bloude as well to feede vpon for the especial strength and comforth of our soules as to offer vp the same for the remembraunce of his death and cleansing of ouâ— sinnes Not in that wise as it was done vppon the Crosse by the painefull sheeding of his bloude but as it was instituted first in the last Supper VVhere Christ our God and Redeemer according to the order of Melchisedech gaue to his Apostles and offered to God the father that body which afterward was betrayed and the same bloude which was shedde after also for the remission of sinne being with all tearmed by him the bloude of the new and eternall testament as that which in the newe lawe shoulde succeade the bloudy offeringes of the olde testament VVherof God almighty being as a man woulde say lothesome or full hath instituted this by his onely Sonne as a most pure and precious oblation and sacrifice to be continued in the Church through out the costes and corners of the rounde worlde VVhich being celebrated in the blessed memory of his Sonnes passion and hauing no other hoste nor oblation then that which then was offered can be no other sacrifice then that which there was made for the forgiuenesse of sinne and redemption of the worlde The which worthy action of Christes Church so fructefully applieth vnto vs the benefite of our maisters death that thereby we may haue comfortable hope of remission of all such misdeedes as most iustly deserued Gods wrath and terrible indignation against vs. CAP. VIII 1 NOwe the good catholike shall haue holsome doctrine taught him concerning the sacrifice of the masse which first commeth in place of the sacrifices of the lawe and that sacrifice which Iudas Machabaeus procured to be made at Ierusalem Well sayd M. Allen shall the sacrifice of the masse shoulder out the sacrifice of Christ his death The Apostle to the Hebrewes teacheth vs an other lesson cap. 10. that Christ offering but one sacrifice for our sinnes and that but once cap. 9. hath made perfect for euer those that are sanctified that our sinnes are taken away by that sacriâ—â—ce and therefore there is no more sacrifice for sinnes left Wherefore it excuseth not but increaseth your blasphemy that you say the sacrifice of the masse is all one with the sacrifice of Christ his passion which was but one sacrifice and the same but once offered and by that one oblation hath made perfect all them that receiue any benefite
haue all the scriptures and the iudgement of the whole worlde vppon them you haue sayd enough M. Allen to winne the whet stone if it were as bigge as any mountaine in the worlde 2 And for these which they here or else where alleage I aske them sincerely and desire them to tell me faithfully what doctor or wise learned man of the whole antiquity euer expounded these textes recited or any one of them or any other which you bring in else when against Purgatory or practise for the deade If they did not how can you for sinne and shame dissent from the whole Church of Christ vpon so light groundes Or how dare you be so bolde that seeke in euery controuersie expresse scripture to alleage these places which wise men nor I thinke your selues take for any such purpose Or how may you for shame reiecte the euident worde of God by vs truely reported for the triall of our matter your selues hauing almost nothing that can be wrasted to your sense 2 Before the heresie of Purgatory was planted in the world how could the olde doctors interprete these places by name against that which they neuer heard named yet haue they so interpreted some of them that their interpretation can not stand with purgatory or prayer for the dead as I will shew in their particular aunsweres When we require expresse Scripture for euery controuersie we doe not require that euery thing should be named in Scripture but necessarily concluded out of the true meaning of the Scriptures and purpose of the holy Ghost in them As for the euident word of God which you report for tryall of your matter is yet to shew and shall be for euer You shame not to boast of that to be your triall which you dare as well eate a fagot as abide the iudgement of iâ— in any lawful conference or disputation your great bellwethers and Bishops declared before the whole world in the conference of Westminster what they durst abide when they came to handestrokes It is a gay matter for such a chattering pye as you are to make a fond florish a farre of in wordes of common wrangling to please your patrones and exhibitioners it is an other thing to stand to the proofe in deede 3 If you stande to the triall of our alleaged testimonies you will be much abashed I know For how can you imagine that the place recited out of Ecclesiastes shoulde further your intent any thinge at all Seeing that euen then when the wiseman spake those wordes the soule of man straight after her departure and the fall of the body continued not where it first fell for the iuste had a place of abidinge and rest in the inferiour partes which was called of Ezechias the gate of hell In the Gospell Sinus Abrahae the bosom of Abraham and nowe Lymbus Patrum in which they all abode till they were deliuered by the bloude and trauell of our Sauiour Iesus VVith whome they after were translated to the eternall ioyes of heauen VVhich thinge if it be true as it can not but be true and certaine which the whole course of scripture the article of our faith in Christes descension into hell and all the auncient fathers doe constantly setforth what blindnes be they in then that bring this place against Purgatory which as it is a stay of certaine for a time from heauen so the other before Christ was the staye of all And therefore it is plaine that this fallinge of the tree meanith nothinge lesse then that euery man shoulde straight vpon his departure be conueide either to hell or heauen Or if any wedded to Caluines blasphemous and vnfaithfull paradoxes doe with Purgatory deny the fathers place of abode before the comming of Christ and impugne the beleefe of Gods Church so much that he withstande the article of our Creede for Christes descending into hell to turne the cause of his going into hell to some other purpose then the loosing of their captiuity that there were in expectation of his ioyefull apparance yet I would demaunde so much of Caluins successor or scholar seeing he will of this figuratiue speach of the trees falling gather so grounded and generall a rule that with out delay euery man must to heauen or hell straight after his death there to remaine in perpetuall state of his fall in the next life either good or badde I woulde aske of him I saye what he thinketh by all those that were by the Prophets Apostles or Christ him selfe raysed vp againe from death to life VVho receiuing by death that fall by their accompt must needes abide where they first fell and so not in case to be reuoked by this their false conclusien they diminish the power of the spirite in working their raising againe Or else they must impute deceite to the holy men and our maister Christ which abhorreth me to speake for that they raysed them not being perfectly deade but in some deadly traunce or apparance of death But because the soule of Lazarus was nowe foure dayes out of his bodye before Christ wroght vpon him it is sure and most certaine that it had some place of abyding after the separation from the fleshe I can not thinke that his soule was in heauen nor it is not like that our Sauiour would so much abase the happy condicion of him whome he loued so well as to reduce him to the vncertaine state of this life I will define in this my ignorance nothing touching the secrets of Gods wisedome herin But very like it is that the parties raysed from their fall and death were not in the ioyes of heaueÌ„ As before Christes death I am sure they were not but I speake of Tabitha also or other reuoked by the Apostles handes that then after Christes passion might full well dying in perfect state of life goe straight to heauen of such I say it is very reasonable that they were not in the ioyes of the elect For else Tabitha shoulde not haue had such a benefite by her almes as the fathers doe witnesse she had And they vse her for an example of the benefite which maye rise to one after departure by charitable workes done in this life It had ben a small pleasure to haue plucked her from heauen to this mortalitie againe and misery of our common life and I trowe no man maye auouche wâ—th salfety of his belefe that she or any other raysed againe miraâ—ulously was reuoked from the desperate estate of the damned soules then she must necessarily be called from some meane condicion of her present abode and perhaps from paine too to this former state of life againe But as in this secret of God no man without iuste reprehension maye deeply wade so it maye reasonably be gathered that the fall of the tree before meÌ„tioned can not induce with any probability the necessity of the soules abiding in all respects where it first light Mary we freely graunt with
fitly stande with the happy case of all those that dye in the fauour of God and assurance of their saluation though they abide sharpe but sweete paine of fatherly discipline for their better qualifying to the ioyes prepared for them and all other the elect So that nowe the mouing of these doubtes hath so litle aduantaged our aduersaries that it hath somewhat geuen occasion of further declaration of our matter then otherwise perchaunce we shoulde haue had 6 The last obiection that you list to trouble your head with all is that voyce which was heard from heauen Apoc. 14. of the blessed state of them that dye in the Lord in the meaning of which you wrest and wrigle like a snake that is smitten on the head but you can not auoyd the strife First you vnderstand it onely of Martyres that dye in the Lord and call Augustine to witnesse thereof As I will not deny but Martyrs are specially comforted by that voyce so I wil affirme that it is to the common comfort and rewarde of all the faythfull in Christ who as they liue in Christ so they dye in christ And witnesse hereof I will not take of flesh and blood but of the holy Ghost Rom 14. None of vs liueth vnto him selfe neither doth any dye vnto him selfe for whether we liue we liue vnto the Lorde and whether we dye we dye vnto the Lorde And the Apostle 1. Cor. 15. nameth the faithfull that are a sleepe in Christ and 1. Thes. 4. them that are deade in christ Wherefore in despite of the deuill and the Pope this blessing apperteyneth to all them that dye in the Lord Iesus Christ as true members of his body and not to them onely that shedde their bloud for christ True it is that all they that would liue godly in Christ Iesus suffer persecution but not all to the death else who are those innumerable Saincts that no man can number of all nations and tongues which S. Iohn sawe Apoc. 7. who are likewise in happy and blessed rest without all maner lacke or hurt hunger thirst or heate but when you are weary of that interpretation you wring out an other that they in purgatory also be happy because they be sure of saluation at last and the rest from labours is either the rest from sinne or else no more but ioy of conscience witnesse of this exposition is the canon of the Masse The witnesse the matter and he that vseth it are all of like credit But if I might pose your conscience M. Allen can you call that a happy rest which is ioyned with such torment misery as you beare men in hand is in purgatory Haue you forgotten that you sayd yere while of Tabitha and Lazarus that it was a benefite for them to be deliuered out of purgatory into this life and is it now a blessing to be dispatched out of this life into purgatory And as for that which you allege out of the canon of your masse declareth that your masse was patched togither of many peeces of diuers colours For you pray for the rest of them whome you confesse to be at rest in Christ you wish easement for them whom you affirme to sleepe in peace As though in Christ were not perfect rest as though in peace there were torment and this exposition you your selfe are weary of also and turne agayne to your former and then backe againe to the latter An vnconstaâ—t man is vncerteyne in all his wayes yet all were litle worth if this place helped not to proue purgatory also For the payne of purgatory is a sweete payne a happy rest a fatherly discipline And yet as Augustine sayth it is but for small faultes or as you say for great faultes that by penance are made small And is God such a mercifull father to punish small faultes so extremely in his children whom he pardoneth of all their great and heynous sinnes O blasphemous helhoundes An aunsvvere to their negatiue argument vvith the Conclusion of the booke CAP. XVII 1 BVt yet one common engine they haue as well for the impugnation of the trueth in this point as for the sore shaking of the weake walles of the simples faith allmost in all their fight that they kepe against the Catholikes VVhich though it be not stronge yet it is a marueillous fit reasoning for so fonde a faith For if thou caste an earnest eye vpon their whole doctrine thou shalt finde that it principally and in a maner wholy consistithe in taking awaye or wasting an other faith that it founde before so that the preachers thereof must euer be destroyers pluckers downe and rooters vp of the trueth grounded before VVill you see then what a Protestants faith and doctrine is deny onely and make a negation of some one article of our belefe and that is a forme of his faith which is lightely negatiue There is no free will there is no workes needefull to saluation there is no Church knowen there is no chiefe gouernour therof there be not seuen sacraments they doe not conferre gratiam geue grace Baptisme is not necessary to saluation Christ is not present on the aultar there is no sacrifice there is no priesthood there is no aultar there is no profit in prayers to sainctes or for the deade there is no purgatory Christ went not downe to hell there is no limbus finally if you liste goe forwarde in your negatiue faith there is no hell there is no heauen there is no god Doe you not see here a trimme faith and a substantiall looke in Caluins Institutions and you shall finde the whole frame of this wasting faith There is nothing in that blasphemous booke nor in their Apologies but a gathered bodie of this no faith For so it must needes be that teacheth no trueth but plucketh vp that trueth which before was planted Is it not a prety doctrine that Caluine makes of the sacraments when he telleth not the force of any of them all but onely standeth like a fearce monstruous swhine rooting vp our fathers faith therein CAP. XVII 1 IT vexeth you at the very hart that we require the authority of the holy Scriptures to confirme your doctrine hauing a playne commaundement out of the word of God that if any man teach otherwise then the word of God alloweth he is to be accursed And therfore you runne to a childish kinde of Sophistry to say that our argument is negatiue A perlous point that almost all the Papistes thinke them selues more then Chrisippus or Aristoteles when they tell vs that our argument is ab auctoritate negatiuè Alacke poore logicke All knowledge that christian men haue of heauenly thinges is grounded vpon the authority of Gods word therefore as it is no good logicke to conclude negatiuely of one place or booke of Scripture this is not conteined in it therefore it is not true so of the whole doctrine of God wherein all truth necessary to saluation is