Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A27340
|
The belief of praying for the dead
|
Belhaven, John Hamilton, Baron, 1656-1708.
|
1688
(1688)
|
Wing B1787; ESTC R16794
|
35,862
|
72
|
Sacrifice of the Altar the holy Synod commands c. Our Article of Belief is thus worded in our profession of Faith Apud Conc. Trid. Sess 25. in fine Constanter teneo Purgatorium esse Animasque ibi detentas Fidelium Suffragijs juvari couch'd in the Bulla of Pius the Fourth I firmly hold that there is a Purgatory or middle State and that the Souls there retained are help'd by the Suffrages of the Faithful In the Canon of the Mass the Priest makes this Commemoration of the Dead In Can. Miss Memento etiam famulorum famularumque tuarum N. N. qui nos praecesserunt cum signo Fidei dormiunt in somno Pacis Be mindful O Lord of thy servants N. and N. who are gone before us with the sign of Faith and rest in the sleep of Peace Here are mention'd such Dead as are pray'd for in particular Ipsis Domine omnibus in Christo quiescentibus locum refrigerij lucis pacis ut indulgeas deprecamur Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum Amen To whom O Lord and to all that rest in Christ grant we beseech Thee a place of refreshment of light and of peace through the same Christ our Lord Amen In Miss Defunct Fidelium Deus omnium Conditor Redemptor animabus samulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum ut indulgentiam quam semper optaverunt Piis supplicationibus consequantur And in the Mass for the Dead he prays thus O God the Creator and Redeemer of the Faithful grant to the souls of thy servants both men and women remission of all their sins that by the pious supplications of the faithful for them they may obtain the Pardon they have alwaies wished for Tho' the Custom Intention and Belief of the Roman Catholick Church be fully laid down and manifested from these publick Records as to what She means by praying for souls departed yet perhaps the repeating of them in some few Reflections may not be ungrateful to meaners Capacities I. Reflection WE pray for all Sinners though never so great of whose Salvation we have some Signs and Hopes at their departing hour For these may be call'd the Faithful deceased Conc. Flor. Sess ult in Definit Fidei This is what the Council of Florence includes in these Words If they dyed truly penitent in the Love of God. They may be called the deceased in Christ as the Council of Trent expresses it Con. Trid. Sess 22. c. 2. and the Souls of thy Servants as the Priest prays for them in the Mass for the Dead Nor ought we to be blamed for complying with this pious Exercise though some of the deceased for whom Prayers are offer'd should be really in Heaven or in Hell for in doubtful things the securest is best to be chosen And Prayers some wayes or other still prove beneficial S. Austin illustrates this after his usual manner with great sense and approbation When Offerings either of the Altar says this Father or of Alms are ordered for all the Dead who were Baptised in Christ S. Aug. Enchir. 110. Cum ergo Sacrifica sive Altaris sive quarumcunque Eleemosynarum pro Baptizatis defunctis omnibus offeruntur pro valdè bonis gratiarum actiones sunt pro non valde malis propitiationes sunt pro valdè malis si nulla sunt Adjumenta Mortuorum qualescunque Vivorum Consolationes sunt if they be made for the very Good or Saints they are thanksgivings if for them who are not very Bad or in a middle State they are Expiations if for the very Wicked or the Damned although they prove not advantagious to these unfortunate Deceased yet they become Consolations to the Living They are Witnesses of the performance of their Christian Charity II. Reflection VVE pray that God would be pleas'd to lessen the pain which the Faithful deceased endure in a middle State. Conc. Flor. in Decret The Council of Florence declares we pray with intent to free them from their Sufferings that of Trent affirms Con. Trid. Sess 22. Can. 3. The sacrifice is offer'd as an Expiation for their pains the Priest at Mass in the Memento begs That God would grant them a place of Refreshment What this Pain substantially consists in the Church allowing of a Middle State concludes to be the suspension of seeing God which musts needs be grievous in regard the Object expected is so earnestly desired For Hope prolong'd Proverb Spes quae differtur affligit Animam as the wise Man teaches torments the Soul. How far this suspension of seeing God is extended whether accompanied with grief or darkness or anguish or real fire when these pains are to end where undergon in the dusky aire where the Devils dwell or under ground or elsewhere are School-Questions variously agitated by Divines and appertain not to Faith. But we are sure there is some pains to be endur'd because there is somthing of sins remain to be purg'd and pardon'd III. Reflection THe cause of Pain is Sin Sin consists of Two Parts The Fault which stains the Soul and the Guilt which Renders it Liable to punishment If the Sin be mortal eternal if venial it must be temporal For all Sin deserves some punishment Now besides eternal pain which the Fault of all mortal Sin carries along with it there remains sometimes at least the Guilt of some temporal penalty due to the Justice of God to be paid in this world or in the next The Church has pronounced this Truth in these Words of the Council of Trent Conc. Trid. Can. 30. Sess 6. Si quis post acceptam Justificationis gratiam cuilibet peccatori poenitenti ita Culpam remitti reatum aeternae poenae deleri dixerit ut nullus remaneat reatus poenae temporalis exsolvendae vel in hoc saeculo vel in futuro in Purgatorio antequam ad regna Coelorum aditus patere possit Anathema sit If any one shall say That the Fault after the Grace of Justification is so remitted to every penitent Sinner and the Guilt of eternal Punishment is so blotted out that there remains no Guilt of temporal pain to be paid for now or hereafter in Purgatory before there be an Entrance granted into the Kingdom of Heaven let him be Anathema And GOD has revealed the same in Holy Scriptures Is it not true That the Fault and Guilt of eternal Punishment of the first Sin which we call Original are both expiated and and quite wash'd away in the waters of Baptism And yet there remains a Guilt of temporal Affliction to be undergone that of Death Rom. 5.12 We must all die Again the Israelites grievously offended God by murmuring Moses interceded for them Numb 14. And our Lord said I have forgiven it And yet God with the same breath declares That he has not remitted the temporal Punishment which remains due to His Divine Justice This they are to pay Their Fathers
THE BELIEF OF PRAYING FOR THE DEAD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A holy and Godly Thought Maccab. l. 2. c. 12. Permissu Superiorum London Printed and Sold by Matthew Turner at the Lamb in High-Holbourn 1688. THE Introduction I Lately met in the Country with a Discourse concerning Purgatory and Prayer for the Dead wherein the Author endeavours by many waies to wean me from my Faith in these Points First He begins to discountenance the Belief of the Roman-Catholick Church which teaches me to Pray for the Deceased by telling me She was beholden for This to Her Worthy Forerunners the Poets and Heathen Philosophers Then he labours to intangle it with the ancient Custom of the Primitive Church Praying to GOD for all the Saints After he proceeds to contradict it by the opposite Profession of the Greeks who never receiv'd any such Doctrine from their Ancestors And he finally resolves to lose it amidst the divers Opinions of the Fathers concerning the State of Men after Death But all this in vain For we know who is the Master of Confusion and Contradiction And the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against that Faith which is built on the Rock CHRIST 'T is here Roman Catholicks fix their Article of Praying for Souls departed Read without Prejudice judge without Partiality confess your Conviction without Obstinacy THE BELIEF OF Praying for the Dead CHAP. I. Of Pagans Praying for the Dead THE Discourser troubled at the early Practice of Praying for the Dead in the Church of GOD allows this Custom with a smile Page 3. to have been of very venerable Antiquity and to have exceeded even Christianity it self for some Hundreds of Years The Ghost of Elpenor in Homer Hom. Odyss 12. Virg. Aeneid 6. and of Palinurus in Virgil abundantly shew this Jests are not seasonable in serious debates of Religion Nor do Roman Catholicks believe Prayers to be profitable for the Dead because the Poets have described many Ceremonies used for their deliverance which nearly resemble the present Practice of the Roman Church Which of our Authors have given this loose Account Where has our Church thus explicated the Reason of Her Belief When Pagans speak like Christians we do not condemn them And if the Poets seem to hint in their Fancies at something of our Faith we still continue to profess it Praep. Evang. l. 11. c. 16. Eusebius recounts of Plato that he divided Mankind into three States Some who excell'd in Holiness of Life enjoy eternal Felicity which it is neither possible for any Words to express nor Thoughts to conceive Others who abandon'd themselves to Vices and Wickedness he supposed were at their deaths convey'd to Hell there to be tormented for ever But now besides these he speaks of a middle sort who though they had sinn'd yet had repented of it and these he thought went down for some time into Hell to be purg'd and absolv'd by grievous Torments but after this they should be remov'd and share in Honours prepared for them The Discourser catches hold of this third State and will have the Church of Rome beholden to Paganism for it which introduc'd it before Christianity was heard of some Hundreds of Years This is very remarkable But Is not Hell and Heaven too as Christians believe them describ'd by this Pagan Philosopher Will he call Hell a piece of Paganism and renounce Heaven upon the same score as he does Purgatory or a middle State where the Dead are reliev'd by the Prayers of the Faithful because these Doctrines are of very venerable Antiquity and exceeded Christianity for some Hundreds of Years I warrant ye the Discourser will in his next Pamphlet condemn for the same reason the Old Testament which was writ long before Christianity and call in question the New Testament too which exceeded even the Religion by Law establish'd many Hundreds of Years CHAP. II. Of the Primitive Church Praying that GOD would be mindful of the Saints 'T IS one thing to Pray to God with reference to the Saints and another to Pray to God for Souls departed The Primitive Church meant by praying to God for all the Saints to honour the Blessed Citizens of Heaven and beg'd that God being mindful of them would at their intercession grant the Faithful upon earth their Petitions These Prayers were Thanksgivings She pray'd to God for Souls departed that he would be pleased to remit to them those lesser faults which they had through humane frailty contracted and for which they suffer'd in a middle State. These Prayers were Expiations The present Church performs her Devotions after the same manner Prayers for the Deceased are offer'd as an Expiation to God for their Sins * Con. Trid. Sess 22. cap. 2. Docet Sancta Synodus Sacrificium verè propitiatorium esse pro Defunctis in Christo nondùm ad plenum Purgatis The holy Sacrifice is an Expiation says the Council of Trent for the Departed in Christ not yet throughly purg'd Prayers for the Saints are directed as a Thanksgiving to God for their Happiness whose Favour we covet * Et. cap. 3. De Sanctorum victoriis gratias agens eorum patrocinia implorat Giving Thanks to God continues the same OEcumenical Synod for their Victories whose protection we implore Had the Discourser taken this distinction he would not have told us that he needed no other Evidence than the Liturgies of the Primitive Church in which we find them to have pray'd for the best of persons Pag. 49. for our B. Lady for the holy Apostles c. to shew that they did not pray for the Dead with any intent to relieve them from Purgatory or place of punishment by their Suffrages And I answer we need no other Evidence than these publick Records and the very places of those Liturgies he cites to prove that the Primitive Church meant by praying that God would be mindful of His Saints to beg their Intercession and by praying for Souls departed to relieve them Lit. Aegyp ex Arab. Con. Ush In the Liturgy of the Church of Aegypt ascrib'd saies the Discourser to S. Basil S. Gregory Nazianzene and S. Cyril of Alexandria thus they pray Be mindful O Lord of thy servants which have pleased thee from the beginning our holy Fathers the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Evangelists and all the Souls of the Just which have died in the Faith especially the holy glorious and ever more Virgin Mary Mother of God S. John the Forerunner the Baptist and Martyr S. Stephen the first Deacon and Martyr S. Mark the Apostle Evangelist and Martyr See how fervent the Primitive Church was in this Devotion which alledges the Memories of Her Saints thereby to move God's mercy towards Sinners This is confirm'd in the Book of Exodus Chap. 32.13 where we read the like prescription of Prayer Remember Abraham Isaac and Israel thy servants to whom thou swarest by thy own self and saidst unto them I will multiply your Seed as