Catholicks who had no Exceptions to the Matter or Form of it And in short to say the Truth the Abuse and Corruptions of the Publick Liturgy in these two particulars Of Prayers for the Dead and the Christian Sacrifice to mention nothing more are so gross and notorious that they alone are sufficient to make the Church of England inexcusably Guilty of Schism and justly obnoxious to Excommunication which may be the Enchantment it seems to lie under and unsafe for any pious Person after notice to hold Communion with it so that it seems not only expedient and prudent for the State to consider these Matters for otherwise nothing is to be expected from these Bishops but absolutely necessary And so I leave it with Your Lordships Your Lordships most Humble Servant Of the Practice of Prayers for the DEAD In the Christian Church THE Performance of any good Offices for the Dead even to their Bodies their Bones their Memories their Wills c. hath always been reputed a very commendable thing among all civilized Nations and whatever hath been acted to the contrary barbarous and inhumane and the only Neglect of such Offices by such as were under any special Obligation of evil consequence as if Mankind had some secret sense that Separate Souls were sensible of the Kindness or Unkindness of those who survived them and had some power to gratifie or revenge the Kindness or Injuries especially of their Relations and such as they had any special Interest in in their Life-time And if such inferior Offices to their Bodies and Memories have been so reputed much more may such good Offices as Prayers for the Souls departed deserve commendation And accordingly it hath been always commonly practised by all Nations Gentiles Jews Mahometans and Christians and that without any known Beginning but very probably by Tradition from the common * Concerning Matters transmitted from them and received and conserved by the Gentiles See Mr. Dodwell's 2d Letter § 8. Parents of Mankind being very agreeable to Nature and confirmed by Apparitions And certainly this is a thing so innocent so free from all appearance of Evil so desirable both for ones self and their Friends that it is very strange that any especially good People should be persuaded nay frighted from it and much more that any should so presume upon their own Opinion and Conceit as to offer to persuade them so contrary to the Practice of the whole World in general and of the whole Catholick Church without clearer Evidence in so obscure a Case as is that of the middle State of Souls to us Mortals which is not to be believed could ever have been without some secret Energy of those Powers of Darkness which have effected greater Mischiefs than this by the same Instruments It is the Practice of the Jews at this day and has been so without any known beginning was so before our Saviour's time as appears by the Book of Maccabces and their ancient Form of Prayer which 't is said they used in the Captivity still extant in their Talmud and never was reproved by our Saviour or any of his Apostles or of the Primitive Christians It is the Practice of the whole Catholick Church at this day and of all Christians except such as according to the unanimous Sentiments of the Ancients are gone and are out of it and hath been so without any known beginning in their most solemn Worship so that no Church can be assigned where they who scruple at it now could have had Communion without it And never was opposed contradicted or questioned by any one of any Reputation in the Catholick Church or by any one at all for near 400 years The first who is known to have questioned it was Aerius in the time of Epiphanius a Presbyter a frantick proud conceited Man discontented because he could not get a Bishoprick and thereupon 't is probable quarrelled not only at divers Practises of the Church but at Episcopacy it self an ill Man by the Judgement of all and Epiphanius and St. Austin reckon him in their Catalogues of Hereticks for his Opposition of this Practice especially The next whose Testimony is produced in this Cause is one Stephanus Gobarus and obscure Scribler and a confessed Heretick even by Vsher who alleadgeth his Testimony as well as by Photius from whom he takes it and who gives this Character of his Book that it seems a Work of much Labour but little Profit and a Study rather of Applause and Vain-Glory than any great Usefulness It was a Collection of the different Sentences of the Fathers in divers points of Doctrine and alleadged to prove such a Difference of Opinions in this Case and what was the true Sentence of the Church A special Witness and to much purpose an Heretick to prove the true Sentence of the Church and a vain-glorious Person who out of Ostentation of Parts and Learning seeks for Differences in the Fathers and sets himself up for a Judge which he might if he had pleased have done also in the Scripture it self But after all he doth not so much as declare his Opinion in the principal Question in this Case but only in a by-point A poor Cause that stands in need of such Supports If we set him aside as well we may who is neither a competent Witness of the Sentence of the Church nor doth declare his own in this Case we find not another in near 700 years after Aerius till Peter de Bruis and one Henricus a runagate Monk who took up a Trade of Preaching and spent what he got in Gaming and on Harlots They denied also the Baptism of Infants the Christian Sacrifice Publick Churches c. against them Petrus Cluniacensis a Man eminent for Learning and Sanctity wrote and St. Bernard preached and confirmed his Doctrine with so great a Miracle as convinced Multitudes who had been seduced by them After these arose one Waldo a Citizen of Lions very rich but unlearned who probably had a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge and attributing too much to his own Opinion procured certain Books to be written in his own Language and distributing his Estate among the Poor took upon him the Apostolick Office of Preaching and began the Sect called after his own Name Waldenses and from their Place and Quality The Poor of Lions Among other Heterodox Opinions whereof some were peculiar to their own Sect and disallowed by all others this of rejecting Prayers for the Dead was one The Apostolici of that time I suppose were not a distinct Sect but the same who assumed that Name And the Albigenses who in the next Century encreased very much till by the secular Power and force of Arms they were suppressed seem to have been a Branch of the same Root however in this particular they agreed as they did in most others Since those I know not any Sect which hath arisen and which questioned or contradicted Prayers for the Dead till those
which have sprung out of what is called the Reformation For I do not find that Wickelif and his Followers here the Lollards or John Huss or Hierom of Prague who carried his Books and Doctrines into their own Country and were all three Men of Parts and Learning ever opposed Prayers for the Dead tho' among the Opinions attributed to Huss one is that there is no Purgatory Fire which is denied by others who yet are for Prayers for the Dead But by all the several Sects of the later Reformers since Luther began they have been questioned opposed and left out of their Publick Prayers Only here in England in the first Liturgy composed by English Clergy in the Reign of King Edward 6. which I therefore call The True English Liturgy the ancient Prayers for the Dead were retained both in the most Solemn Office of the Daily Sacrifice and at Funerals But these and other principal Parts of the Liturgy were soon after new-modelled in a clandestine manner by Cranmer Bucer and other Foreigners and Calvinian Sectaries and craftily imposed upon the Church and Nation And the Abuse is continued to this day This is the true Original and Succession of all the Opposition which hath ever been made to this Practice of all Mankind in general and of the whole Catholick Church of Christ by Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks and the meanest of all those not a Man amongst them of any Eminence for Piety or any Virtue or so much as Parts or Learning much less any Man of Note in the Church much less any Church Party or Part of the Catholick Church who were or who continued in Communion with The Catholick Church or any Particular Catholick Church as they anciently distinguish'd them from the Assemblies and Associations of Hereticks and Schismaticks in the same City It is very observable wonderful and a great Evidence of unquestionable or undeniable Truth that in so many Ages when there had been so many so considerable Parties of Hereticks and Schismaticks and so malicious spiteful and inraged as many of them were against the Church that none of the most considerable of them should ever seek to advantage their Cause by such a Question which doubtless they would not have failed to have done had they apprehended any color of Truth or Advantage in it that none in all the Parts of the World should ever oppose it but such an obscure inconsiderate and inconsiderable Generation of People till the late Reformers sprung up who thought they could never reform enough or pick quarrels too much till they had brought that which might have been a considerable Cause if well laid and managed to an indefensible brable Amongst them indeed there have been many Men of sufficient Learning but but few of that Ingenuity Impartiality freedom from Prejudice temporal Interest or Fear of Displeasing and of that Generosity as to assert the Truth plainly without respect of Persons or Parties and those few have been very much born down among us especially by the Violence and Headiness of Parties and Factions Yet such is the Power and Evidence of Truth in this Case that it hath found Advocates amongst the most learned of all Parties Of this I think it not improper to produce an instance or two in this Place The first shall be an eminent Person both for Learning and Virtue Bishop Forbes the first Bishop of Edenburg promoted by King Charles 1. who is reported to have said of him That he had found out a Bishop who deserved that a See should be made for him In his Considerationes Modestae Controversiâ de Purgatorio cap. 3. § 17. coming to speak of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead Sed hic primum c. But here first saith he is to be reproved the Opinion of some rigid Protestants who do altogether censure and condemn Prayers for the Dead because they find no Precept or Example of such Prayers in the Old or New Testament Certainly even those who are most against it dare not deny that it is a most ancient Custom and most universally received in the whole Church of Christ that in the Publick Prayers of the Church Commemoration should be made for the Dead and Rest be prayed for to God for those who died piously and in the Peace of the Church And having cited divers of the Ancients for it he adds This most ancient Custom was full of Piety and most truly did Cassander say This was always fixt in * Note Then this was agreed among All. All Christian Minds That the Spirits of those who being initiated in the Sacrament of Christ departed this Life in the Confession of his Name with signification of Repentance should be commended to the Mercy of God that Remission of Sin Eternal Rest and a Part with the Elect might be intreated for them †This second part is so cited in Vsher p. 246. as is apt to lead the Reader into mistake as if they were not agreed in more than the Author did intend And altho' concerning that State of Souls for which those things were profitable it was neither sufficiently manifest nor agreed among all yet all judged this Office as a Testimony of Charity toward the Deceased and a Profession of Faith concerning the Immortality of Souls and Resurrection to come to be grateful to God and profitable to the Church Then he saith This most Ancient and Vniversal Custom of the Church very many and most learned Protestants do not disallow and cites the Apology of the Augsburg Confess Chemnicius Mentserus Luther Gerard Vrbanus Regius Vorstius Vossius Dr. Field Bishop Andrews and passing over in silence very many others as he saith he recites the Words of the Liturgy of Edward 6. both in the Office for the Communion and that for Burials laments that such most ancient and pious Prayers should by the Persuasion of Bucer and others be expunged and wisheth that the Church of England which hath shewed great Moderation in many other things of less moment had rather conformed her self in this business as also in some others to the most ancient Custom of the Universal Church than for some Errors and Abuses which had by degrees crept in plainly rejected it and wholly taken it away to the great Scandal of almost all other Christians I need add no more after this Learned and Apostolick Bishop only in short take notice of what Vrbanus Regius saith that None reject it but Epicureans and Sadduces and Vorstius that No Good Man can dislike it and Bishop Andrews that There is little that can be said against it and conclude this matter with the Words of the learned and famous Hugo Grotius The use of Praying for the Dead received through all Churches of the East no less than of the West ought not to be condemned And after some reasons for it and something concerning the Jews he adds The Ancient Liturgies are not to be condemned since Christ himself did never reprehend the Prayers
OF PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD Whether the Practice and Tradition thereof in the CHURCH be truly CATHOLICK and a competent Evidence of Apostolick Original and Authority Humbly tendred to the Consideration of the Right Honourable the JUDGES and of the Gentlemen of the Honourable Profession of the LAW With a PREFACE concerning the Reasons thereof and the Concern of the Nation that the Differences about Religion be better considered in order to a more firm Foundation of an Honourable and Lasting PEACE LONDON Printed in the Year 1699. To the Right Honourable John Lord Summers Baron of Evesham Lord High Chancellour of England Sir John Holt Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench Sir George Treby Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Edward Ward Lord Chief Baron and the rest of the Honourable Judges May it please Your Lordships THough at first to some it may seem strange and improper to offer a Theological Controversie to the Consideration of Magistrates and Judges of Civil Causes yet if the present Constitution of the Church of England the Nature of the Question and the special Qualifications of the Persons for the Consideration of such a Question besides the Common Concern of all States and Persons in Matters of Religion be well consider'd nothing can be more reasonable A Church professing and glorying in the Profession of a Religion Established by Law and so intirely subject to the Authority of the State that it cannot call a Synode choose a Bishop Dean or Prebend make a Canon or alter any publick Prayers of the Church without it a Question of Prescription Vsage and Custom than which none are more frequently examined tryed and determined in our Civil Courts and by consequence no Persons more proper to give a Judgment upon such a Question because none more versed and expert in Cases of that nature than those of the Honourable Profession of the Law Besides Your Lordships and the rest of that Honourable Profession have another Qualification indispensably requisite to a just and true Judgment Indifferency and Freedom from any special Prejudice more than what is common to the whole Nation and as much above that as any Persons in it I mean that of Education by which tho' the inconsiderate Vulgar and People of little Judgment are very strangely affected and moved either fondly affecting or childishly abhorring what hath nothing of real Good or Evil but what proceeds from an abused or deceived Imagination yet Men of Parts Judgment and Experience can more easily extricate themselves out of the fetters and manacles of such Impressions and Prejudice upon consideration of sufficient Grounds and Reasons But the Generality of the English Clergy and Non-Conformists are under a double special Prejudice and Pre-ingagement the Authority and Credit of their Party and their own in particular having not only imbibed a Special Opinion in the Case but inconsiderately asserted and so espoused it also besides the Prudential Caution of not disobliging or offending their Auditors tho' many Protestants in other Parts are of another Opinion and the most learned here have deserted the old Cause both in their Disputes in the Vniversity and in their Controversial Writings And therefore as every honest Man in any Difference would desire the Judgment of such as are most indifferent unbyassed and impartial so every wise Man will desire that they may be Persons of most Ability Skill and expert in such Matters And in both these respects I know none more proper to judge of this Case than Your Lordships and the Gentlemen of Your Honourable Profession Nor is this all that You are thus qualified to judge of this matter but you have also a Concern a double Concern in it but that it may be fairly and truly determined a Concern which obligeth you to Impartiality that the Truth may be cleared and an End put to such Differences both in regard to the Places you hold and the Interest you have in the Civil State of the Nation and in regard of your Personal Interest and particular Concerns both in this Life and hereafter For Matters of Religion are of no little Importance to the Well-being of States as well as of particular Persons and to the Well-being of particular Persons as well in this Life as hereafter And all this in a double respect in respect to the Providence of God and in respect of their Natural Efficacy and Tendency It is very manifest that almost all the Vnhappiness Troubles and Disturbance which this Nation hath suffered for more than 150 Years last past have proceeded from unhappy Differences about Matters of Religion And it would be as evident if duly considered that there is as little Likelyhood if Possibility of any long Continuance of Peace without some proper Application to so fatal a Root of Mischief amongst us for the Extirpation or Suppression of it Nor is this so vain unreasonable or impracticable a thing to be thought on or attempted as most Men are apt to presume upon the Vnsuccessfulness of the Attempts which have been made if better consider'd It is no unusual thing for Men to learn from the Errors of former Attempts so to correct their Methods and Measures as to accomplish with ease what others with great Labour were not able to effect Many things in Practice are like Riddles in Speculation which after many have found insoluble by their utmost Study appear at last when the Secret is once revealed very plain and easie to the meanest Capacity But in such Differences as these there is usually a double Secret the one Supernatural managed by invisible Ministers of the Divine Providence the other Natural and Humane proceeding from Error of the Vnderstanding or Corruption of the Will and Affections in one or both of the Parties And for the most part there are Faults on both sides if not from the beginning at least in the Progress and Continuance of the Difference For it is no unfrequent thing for such as have a Good Cause at first to spoil it in the Management And such is the Case in these Differences in Religion which have so long infested this part of the World Wherein the Supernatural Secret is the Operation of those Invisible Powers by the Commission or Permission of God for Correction of what was and is amiss in the several Parties among whom they arose the Consideration of which belonging more properly to Divines I shall say nothing of it here But of those Differences the first and most considerable are those between the Roman Church and those who pretend a Reformation And the Natural and Humane Secret in them lies in certain Faults on both sides The Faults and Scandals of the Papacy and Court of Rome were so gross and notorious that all good and intelligent People groaned for a Reformation long before Luther was born But the Faults of them who pretended to that Work will appear when well considered no less neither in Number nor Nature There is none of them all that
is not notoriously guilty of Sacrilege Schism and Heresie besides divers Vnchristian Practices to promote or maintain their Party It is even natural to Men to run out of one Extream into the other and the Evil Spirits when they are permitted cease not to instigate the corrupt disposition of Men to the utmost they can Hence have proceeded those many endless Differences among themselves who at first differed only from the Church of Rome And their Faults and Miscarriages are so notorious that they are many of them confessed acknowledged and disclaimed by divers of the most learned of all Parties The English Reformation which was not faultless before was farther corrupted by Cranmer who tho by some magnified as a Martyr will appear in time to have been so mischievous an Instrument both in Church and State as makes him very unworthy of any honourable Character or Memory in any part of the Catholick Church but especially that of England and settled at last thro the prevalence of a Party of Calvinian Sectaries with such Abuses and Corruptions in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign as the most learned and eminent of the English Clergy have long desired and indeavoured what they could to rectifie but have never been able to effect or scarce dared to attempt it in any great Matters being abused and bug-beared with popular Outcries and Imputations of Popery with which the People of this Nation have been very grossly abused when-ever they dared to assert or own any thing of the Primitive Genuine Christianity contrary to the Nations of that Faction who have been pricks in their Eyes and thorns in their Sides both to Church and State ever since by the just Judgment of God for their Politick Compliances with the Corruptions of that pretended Reformation which are in truth much greater than is believed or suspected by many good People as I may possibly by the Grace of God shew more particularly in due time But for the present to calm the Minds and stop the Mouths of such as may be offended at what I say as briefly as may be I shall only recommend to their Consideration if they be Dissenters the Expostulation of a late leading Man amongst them Mr. Richard Baxter to the zealous Anti-Papists which he saith is written to try if it may be to promote our common Repentance and to reform the Dominal Distaken Reformation of those who have sinned by Extreams which by the assumed Name of Reformation have wronged God and the Truth and Mens Souls with the greater Advantage and Success Thus of the Reformation in general in his Book against Foreign Jurisdiction printed but little before his Death Part 2. ch 1. and ch 7. he sets down together no less than seven summary Heads of False Charges and Wrongs done to the Papists by the Sectarian weak-headed part of Protestants as he elsewhere calls them 1. Some Men saith he do ignorantly charge some Errors on the Papists which they are not guilty of 2. or lay the Errors of some few upon the most 3. Some make Errors which are but de Nomine to seem to be de Re 4. and lesser Errors to seem Great 5. Some take divers Truths to be Errors 6. And some are ready to call some lawful Customs of the Papists by the Name of Popery and Antichristian 7. Some would deny the Papists the common Civilities and Liberties which are their due c. And elsewhere he gives us part of a Catalogue of such rash Charges with an c. to let us know that those are but part How far Protestants mistake and rashly Charge them in the Doctrines of Predestination Free-will Grace Merits Justification Redemption Perseverance c. I saith he have freely shewed in my Catholick Theology and End of Doctrinal Controversies and Ludovicus le Blank after Others hath excellently opened Which is a plain Confession that in all those Differences besides that about Antichrist which he does not at all approve the Fault lies on the side of the Protestants and the Nominal Mistaken Reformation And herein I know no Conformists except Calvinian Sectaries who do not agree with him and those Others he mentions And for Conformists they may there see without looking further that there are and have been many amongst us of greatest Reverence and Name as he elsewhere expresseth it who have thought the Differences as unjust and unreasonable on the Protestant side in divers other Particulars such as Arch-Bishop Laud Arch-Bishop Bramhall Bishop Guning Bishop Sparrow Bishop Parker Dr. Hammond Dr. Heylyn Dr. Pierce Dr. Saywell Dr. Beveridge Dr. Sherlock Mr. Thorndike Mr. Dodwell all whom he particularly names and indeavours to answer To whom might be added for my purpose Bishop Andrews Bishop Cousens Bishop Taylor Bishop Forbes Dr. Field and divers other eminent learned Men in and since the Reign of Queen Elizabeth besides divers now living And a worthy dignified Clergy-Man of the City in a Book lately printed hath asserted that the Reformation was and was to be but an imperfect Work By all which it is easie to be perceived that the Cause of the Reformation is no such clear Cause or infallible Truth as is generally believed by those who are educated in such a Presumption or Persuasion Which might also justly be suspected from the Differences which arose presently and have been continued from the beginning with bitter Contentions between the Principal Actors in that Work and their several Parties to this day which are things manifest to all People in all Places where any thing called the Reformation hath prevailed But there are other Matters very observable in this Case as several indirect Ends and Motives which probably might be and certainly were the Inducements to many of the Beginners and Promoters of it the Irregular Manner in which it was managed and settled the subtile Accommodations of the principal parts of the Work to recommend the Preachers and gratifie the People but undermining the Honour of Christ and the Power of Godliness and settling the People in Presumption and Security upon a False Foundation according to the Description of the Apostle Speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them and the Fruits and Effects agreeable thereunto a plain Indication that it was not of God but in the Nature of a Judgment and that they knew not what they did nor what Spirit they were of which tho' certain Truths and very evident when looked into yet are not so obvious to common Observation Nor indeed was I my self so sensible of much of them till after much Study and Indeavours to promote the Service of God and Good of my Country it all seemed to me to be under an Enchantment so that no Good could be done Whereupon considering the Fruits according to our Saviour's Rule upon a fair Invitation and Opportunity I resolved upon a Retirement and a Review of the Reformation the Root which produced no better Fruits And coming to it with much Sincerity and Impartiality I
for the Dead commonly used among the Jews of which there is a Form extant in the Talmud made as is believed in the Babylonian Captivity and mentioned in the second Book of the Maccabees It will be replied That as great a Man and of the Church of England as any of those hath written against it the famous Vsher Arch-Bishop of Armath It is very true he hath and imployed and strained all his Learning all his Parts and all his Skill and a little too much to oppose it and all to very little purpose for his own Cause but to very good purpose against it For it is a great Evidence and Demonstration of what Bishop Andrews truly said That there is little that can be said against what this great Man takes such pains to oppose The sole Question between him and his Adversary was Whether the Fathers of the first 400 or 500 Years held that Prayer for the Dead is both commendable and godly as appears by the Challenge which was in those very Words and no other How and where doth he answer this plain Question His Title of that part of his Answer is general Of Prayer for the Dead He saw well enough how little he had to say to that plain Question and therefore resolved to take more Liberty to say something of the matter of his Title tho little or nothing to the Question He spends three score and ten pages upon the general matter but if I mistake not not ten lines directly and closely to the special Question * To use his own words p. 170. He alleadgeth indeed a number of Authorities to blear Mens Eyes with all which being narrowly looked into will be found nothing at all to the purpose Which is to abuse not so much his Adversary as his Reader with a specious appearance of an Answer which in truth and reality is nothing to the purpose That which comes nearest to the purpose is what he saith pag. 246. These Two Questions saith he must necessarily be distinguished Whether Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead and Whether the Dead did receive any peculiar Profit thereby In the latter of these he the Reader shall find great Difference among the Doctors in the former very little or none at all This is indeed to the purpose but his Resolution of the former Question tho' very true is a plain Confession against himself For if they be agreed that Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead then certainly they held that that was commendable and godly which is all that his Adversary did affirm then and that I do principally assert now for what I have to alleadge farther is but a Consequence of that And his Resolution of the latter Question is manifestly false and a disingenuous Assertion for if among so great a number of Doctors in so many Years he could have assigned five or six or ten who had really differed in that point from the rest which those few he cites rightly understood did not had that been a Great Difference And if some Authors do say that some or that many in their time were doubtful in the point is that a sufficient proof that it was still a Question in the Church when they name not one Person in particular much less any Doctor nor tell us so much as of what quality they were who had those Doubts When a Difference is Great there must be some proportion between the Contenders and where a Question is continued there must be some Disputes Contention or Debates But if Peoples secret Doubts must be taken for Questions in the Church that is the ready way to bring all Religion into question and it is not to be doubted but such dealings in Controversies hath had its share in producing this growth of Scepticism and Atheism of late That such a Man as this should put Colours upon Causes should hold up Contentions should be so addicted to Parties as in favour to them to confirm People in Opinions which if false are mischievous and if true of little Advantage and contrary to so great Authority as is on the other side and so expose his Judgment or Integrity is a great Unhappiness to himself and a Scandal to others It is possible what others may have observed in this great Man for 't is a scurvy thing to be ingaged in an ill Cause may have taught them more Wisdom for for ought I can find as well in the Controversial Writings of late as in the Disputations at the University the Old Cause An Preces pro Defunctis sint Licitae is quite deserted and that Question is turned into another An Preces pro Defunctis antiquitus usurpatae inferant Purgatorium Papisticum It is well Men have learned so much Wisdom for themselves as to mend their Cause so far as that and it is to be wished that they may also learn so much Honesty as to undeceive the People and restore to them for themselves and their Friends the Comfort and Benefit of that ancient Catholick Practice Mr. Thorndike one of the learnedst Persons this Church hath produc'd and a late Bishop of St. Asaph have done well to do what they could and restore it upon their own Tomb-stones tho' they could not do it in the Church and if all who believe well would but do so well as profess what they believe which certainly they ought to do we should soon see the Truth revive and flourish beyond Expectation and so much of our Contentions abated Thus concerning the Persons who have opposed this Practice and set up themselves against the Authority of the whole Catholick Church I come now to consider the Opposition it self their Allegations and Reasons Such is the Wit of Man and the Subtilty of Satan that scarce any Truth is so evident but they can find out some specious Appearances to set up against it But such is the Mercy and Wisdom of God that he hath provided sufficient means for Direction for all such as keep within the Bounds of Humility and Obedience that is in Subjection not only of their Wills but also of their Intellects and Understandings to his Orders Ordinances and Prescriptions the very Business of their Lives in this World for Preparation for another And to such besides the Common Means he will kindly vouchsafe a special Guidance sufficient for their Circumstances Of the Danger our Saviour and his Apostles have given to all fair Warning and great Caution acquainting us with the End why the most Wise and Gracious God permits it for Tryal and Exercise the Danger and Subtilty of the Ministers of Satan such as should deceive if it were possible the very Elect the special Marks to know and avoid them viz. Their Fruits specious Pretences Sheeps Clothing and Distraction and Disagreement among themselves crying Here is Christ and There is Christ and special Directions Believe them not Go not out after them All this Provision hath the Devil attempted to
granted by the very Allegation Nor indeed is it much denied by any Men of Learning Scio esse pervetustam hanc precandi pro piè defunctis consuetudinem saith Bucer in his Censure and after he had a little indeavoured to put off Tertullian S. Cyprian and Dionysius he adds Sed sit hic quantumvis vetustus Dionysius Et sit hujus atque aliorum S. Patrum authoritas quantumlibet magna attamen nostrum est tanto anteferre omni humanae authoritati divinam quanto Deus omni homine major est sapientia nostri charitate docendique nos omnia propensione Jam or are pro Defunctis nullae docent Scripturae sive verbo sive exemplo Et vetitum est quicquid his adjicere vel detrahere Deut. 4. 12. Solet nobis objici says Peter Martyr Ecclesiam semper pro Defunctis orasse quod quidem non inficior sed assero illius facti neque Verbi Dei neque Exempli quod desumitur ex Sacris literis auctoritatem habere in 1 Cor. 3. fol. 45. Ed. Tig. 1579. Verum est quod Papistae aiunt says Bullinger Dec. 4. Ser. 10. Veteres orasse sacrificasse pro Defunctis Scio quid Doctor Ecclesiae Insignis Augustinus quid Eloquentissimus Chrysostomus aliique viri vetusti ac clari hac de re scriptum relinquerunt Sed quaero num hi rectè fecerunt Scio damnatum fuisse Aerium quod hujusmodi Orationes Oblationes improbaret Afferunt secundum Maccabaeorum librum Sed is nihil probat cum non sit Canonicus Adjiciunt Traditionem Apostolicam Sed mihi id non videtur nec illi unquam in scriptis ita praecipiunt This is the Sum of the Case and honestly said and therefore I shall conclude this part with it Such is the Folly Passion and Inconsiderateness of Men that they many times bring such Causes to Tryal as upon their own shewing and hearing their own Evidence only appears to all intelligent and indifferent Persons to be against them And such I believe will this Cause of these Men appear to be to all competent Judges without more a do Notwithstanding for the more plain and full Conviction and Satisfaction of such as are less intelligent and more scrupulous and that those Honourable Persons to whose Consideration I present it may themselves judge of the Evidences which extort these Confessions from such as would elude them if they could I will produce so much as is sufficient for the purpose and that I be not tedious I will forbear all that which would prove it to have been a true Catholick Practice of the whole Church for above 1200 years last past and confine my self to the time allowed and approved by the Church and State of England that is the time of the first four * 1. Of Nice Anno 325. 2. Constant Anno 381. 3. Ephesus Anno 431. 4. Chalced Anno 481. general Councils and that preceeding to the time of the Apostles that is from that to the Year of our Lord 451. As for the succeeding Ages to this day that it was observed all along per totum Orbem and therefore believed to have been delivered by the Apostles as the most ancient Writers upon the Church Offices affirm I presume no Man will deny and therefore I shall only mention one Observation concerning those Ages I have made all the Search that possibly I could both by Manuscripts and printed Books to discover the most ancient Forms of celebrating the Holy Eucharist in the Latin Church and tho' I have met with divers Variations in other parts yet I never could discover any Alteration in that that is the principal part and as Dr. Barlow late Bishop of Lincoln says the most innocent part of the publick Office called The Canon of the Mass since Gregory the Great nor indeed by him 〈…〉 believe the whole Canon is not of less Antiquity than Gelasius or S. Ambrose if not much ancienter divers particulars of it being found in more ancient Authors It is not long since a very Reverend and Learned Bishop since deceased speaking to me of it said it was a Noble piece of Antiquity and Dr. Barlow hath left under his hand a just Censure of one who cut that part out of an ancient Missel at Oxford for an ignorant half learned Fellow This alone is an ample Evidence of the Practice of all the Latin Churches for these Ages which from thence I shall indeavour to trace back to its Original S. Austin and S Paulinus both lived within the time prescribed and died 20 years before the last of the said four Councils about An. 431. S. Augustin was a Person of great Natural parts acquired Learning Piety Holiness and of great Authority and Reputation in the whole Catholick Church especially in the Latin Church of which he is reckoned one of the chiefest Doctors He had in his younger time taught Rhetorick at Rome and afterward at Millan so that he was acquainted with the World as well as with Books and every way as well qualified to bear his Testimony in the Case as possibly could be S. Paulinus was a Person of great Quality and Estate in great Esteem with the Emperor and of so great Devotion that imbracing our Saviour's Counsel he Sold all distributed it to the Poor and pious Uses and betook himself to a strict Religious Life in Poverty after he had been preferred to great publick Offices he was a Man of Parts and Learning and well acquainted with the Western parts especially Italy France and Spain and for his great Virtues and eminent Sanctity was by the Importunity of the People made Bishop of Nola in Campania so that he also was every way qualified for another Witness in this Case and these two I suppose sufficient for their time especially for the Latin Church S. Paulinus in an Epistle to St. Augustin says as much as need to be in few Words that * Vacare non posse quòd universa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consâ—evit ap Aug. de Cura pro Mort. pr. It cannot be in vain that the Vniversal Church is accustomed to pray for the Dead Not the Church but the Vniversal Church not only did at that time but was accustomed so to do that is time out of mind without any known beginning And what was it accustomed to do Not barely to commemorate but to pray and supplicate for them Vniversa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consuevit As ample a Testimony I think as can be expressed in so few words S. Augustin in confirmation of this alleadgeth the Book of Maccabees and addeth ‖ Sed etsi nusquam in Scriptuâ—is veteribus omnino legereâ—ur non parva tamen est Universae Ecclesiae quae in hâ—c consuetudine claret Authoritas ubi in preâ—ibus saceâ—dotis quae Domino Deo ad ejus altare funduntur locum suum habet etiam Commendatio Mortuorum S. Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis c. â— But altho'
joined with God's People in the Church and might be vouchsafed the Divine Rights and Mystick Service and might enjoy a Communion of the Holy Prayers This was but 12 years after the Nicen Council and a great and most illustrious instance of the common received and settled Practice of that time And here before I proceed further it is fit to consider how far the continuance of that wicked and shameful Abuse by Cranmer put upon the Church of England in his clandestine Corruption of the True English Liturgy I say the Continuance of it to this day whether by supine Negligence or base Compliance with a Faction of Sectaries be consistent with that Profession of Reverence to Antiquity in general and to those first four General Councils in particular which is made by all who pretend to be genuine Sons of the Church of England with their use of the Constantinopolitan Creed in the most solemn Office so fouly deformed contrary to the Publick Office at that time used in the Church and attested by S. Cyril Bishop of Hierusalem who was present at that Council and a principal Man there How consistent with the Statutes of most ancient Colleges in both the Universities and the Oaths taken by so many Scholars for the Observance of them How consistent with the Belief of One Holy Catholick Church and of the Communion of Saints with that Reverence and Respect which the Holy Scriptures require should be paid to the Body of Christ the Depository of Christian Verities and the Pillar or Monument and Basis of Truth with that Reverence and Honour and Esteem which all true and genuine Christians cannot but have for so many glorious Saints as flourished in the Church of Christ and all agreed in this pious Practice for more than 1200 years from the time of Constantine who himself was none of the least being converted in an extraordinary manner by special Vision from our Saviour and the Truth thereof confirmed by very remarkable Victories and afterward so great a Promoter of Christian Piety that he was as Eusebius relates partaker of the Apostles appellation being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Offices of the Greek Church and deservedly How it can be consistent therewith and with Christian Modesty to set up a Calvin a Bucer a Cranmer an Vsher like little Idols above all and not rather an undeniable proof of the very Spirit of Hereticks and Schismaticks Mr. * Life Appendix p. 55. Baxter's Questions in another Case not unlike this may very properly be proposed to our modern Opposers of this Catholick Practice Would they have held Communion with the Catholick Church for a Thousand Years together Or would they not if they had lived in those times If they would then why not with us who are of the same Judgment Was it a Duty then And is it unlawful now If they would not in all those Ages have held Communion with the visible Church what would they have done but separated from the Body and so from the Head and cast off Christ in all his Members and taken him to be a Head without a Body which is no Head and so no Christ What would they have done but denied his Power and Love and Truth and consequently his Redemption and his Office Hath he come at the end of 4000 years since the Creation to redeem the World that lay so long in Darkness And hath he made such wonderful Preparations for his Church by his Life and Miracles and Blood and Spirit c. and promised That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and that his Kingdom shall be an Everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion endureth from Generation to Generation and yet after all this shall he have a Church even as the Seekers say but for an Age or two Thus Mr. Baxter and very good but if this be good in the Case of Baptism of Infants why not as good in the Case of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead which I think hath as good Evidence of Apostolical Original as that or the Lord's-Day or Episcopacy or a good part of the Scriptures of the New Testament And if they stand all upon the same Foundation why should they not stand or fall together There is also an Assertion of St. Augustin 's which deserves to be here considered in this Case That * Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nec in Consilâ—s institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi Authoritate Apostolica traditum rectissimè creditur cont Donat l. 4 c. 24. what the Vniversal Church doth hold and was not instituted in Councils but always retained is most rightly believed to have been delivered by no other than Apostolical Authority For as this is a Practice which none did ever pretend was instituted by any Council so amongst all who have written concerning the Original or first Invention or Introduction of things none has ever assigned any Original of it in the Catholick Church later than the Apostles or in any part of the Catholick Church later than of the rest of Christianity it self So that could we trace it no further back than the time of Constantine it would be unreasonable to believe that the whole Christian Church so largely spread over the Face of the Earth and planted by so many several Persons at first and in Places so divided and remote one from another should so unanimously agree in such a Practice did it not proceed from some Common Cause which could be no other than the Mutual Agreement of all the Apostles in it * Nostra quidem Scripta cur ignibus meruerunt dari Cur immaniter Conventicula dirui in quibus Summus oratur Deus Pax cunctis venia postulatur Magistratibus Exercitibus Regibus Familiaribus Inimicis adhuc vitam degentibus resolutis corporum viâ—ctione lib. 4. suo fi But tho' this might be sufficient yet have we further Evidence to trace it even through the more troublesome times of the Churches so near to the Apostles that no Man without Disparagement to his Judgment or his Honesty can question its Original to be indeed Apostolical For tho' those troublesome times have left us so few Monuments of the Primitive Christianity in comparison that all will hardly equal the Writings of some one of the Writers of after-Ages yet among those few have we what is sufficient Arnobius an eminent Professor of Rhetorick who had been a bitter Enemy against the Christians even in the time of Persecution under Dioclesian turned Christian and wrote Seven Books against the Gentiles in the fourth of which he expostulates with them in this manner Why have our Scriptures deserved to be cast into the Fire Why our Meeting-Places to be cruelly destroyed in which the Great God is prayed to Peace and Pardon is besought for all for Magistrates Armies Kings our Familiars and Enemies for those yet living and those released from the Bond of their Bodies Where he speaks of Prayers for these
to the Principal Doctrines of Religion Tertul and the first Montanists were of the same Opinion with the Church c. saith Du Pin p. 82 83. Montanism And what is this to the Prejudice of his Testimony concerning Prayers for the Dead It is so far from that that it is the greatest Confirmation and Amplification of it that this Practice and Tradition was no part of Montanism for nothing could have been a greater Prejudice to the Church of Rome against it and it had certainly been condemned by them nor peculiar to the African Church but the known Practice of the Catholick Church and of the Roman Church in particular quite contrary to what the Objectors would persuade us But such Infatuations are the greatest of Men subject to when they will obstinately persist in the Maintenance of an ill Cause We may here therefore fix upon as good ground as can reasonably be desired this Practice and Tradition of the Catholick Church And now it is time to consider how much we are short in our Evidence of the Apostles Age and from what Original this Practice did in truth proceed It is agreed that St. John wrote his Gospel about the beginning of the second Century and that Tertullian fell to the Sect of Montanus in the beginning of the third Vid. Du Pin p. 44. and p. 70. And S. Hierom informs us that he lived to a great Age usque ad decrepitam atatem and that after he had continued usque ad mediam aetatem a Presbyter of the Church invidia postea contumeliis Clericor Romanae Ecclesiae ad Montani dogma delapsus * After having continued in the Church 40 or 45 Years he separated from it in the beginning of the 3d Centutury c. saith Du Pin p. 70. So that he lived the greatest and best part of his Life in the same Age wherein St. John wrote his Gospel and did live some time And here comes as seasonably as unexpectedly to my hand at the very instant that this is at the Press a Book of a learned Opponent who seeing this too plain to be dissembled and supposing that he can otherwise evade the force of this Evidence presents us with a plain Confession of the Matter of Fact †Of the Sibyls l. 2. c 23. David Blondell I make no difficulty saith he to affirm that it might be practised some time before the Year 200 in as much as Tertullian the most ancient of all those that say any thing of it numbred it even then among the Customs received in his time writing in the Year 199. Oblationes pro Defunctis pro Natalitiis annua die facimus c. and recites also the other two Testimonies only in that de Monogamia mistakes the Husband for the Wife and then adds From the things which this great Person the most Ancient and most Learned of all the Latines that we have remaining does advance as to Matter of Fact concerning the Oblations which were publickly made and the Employment of the Priests the only Ministers of the publick Service as a thing Ordinary and grown into Custom it is manifest that Praying for the Dead was in his Time used not only by particular Persons but also in the Body of the Church and that the Liturgies thereof were full of it Thus we see not only by plain Proof but also by the * The same is confessed by John Dalle since recommended to me as one who hath written learnedly on this Subject but I find not any thing in him added to Blendel but such Pride Arrogance Insolence Contempt and reproachful Expressimsoâ— the Anciâ—nt Holy Christians Martyrs as cannot but be very offensive to any true Christian Spirit being most apparently the common Spirit and Genius of all wicked and obstsnate Hereticks leading to Atheism and Ap stâ—cy and as contra ry to the Pare Word of God which they pretend as to the true Spirit of Christianty Confession of a learned Adversary that this was not only a Practice in the Church when Tertullian wrote but a Received Custom in his time and therefore of some standing before and of such standing as he knew no other Original of it but Apostolical Tradition and for such doth he alleadge it and not only so but for an unquestionable Proof of such unwritten Traditions as this Author also confesseth and asserts cap. 24. p. 142. And what other Original could it have in that little time and such a Man as he have been ignorant of it And had any other been known could He have been guilty of so great Weakness as to have alleadged this for an unquestionable Proof in such a Case if he had had so little Honesty But we have here a learned Man who under pretence of detecting an Imposture presumes by his Learning to impose upon the World How well he hath used his Learning in other Matters some Learned Men of the Church of England I think besides others have sufficiently shewed and how far his Judgment is to be relied upon In this I shall shew the like in a word He would perswade that not only Tertullian but the whole Church of Christ hath been imposed upon in this Matter by a counterfeit Sibyl written between the Years 138 and 151. and of Tertullian saith positively That he relied upon no other Hypothesis than those proposed by the Author of the pretended Sibylline Writings But in these few words there is no less than at least one notorious Fallacy and two Falsities a Fallacy in the word Hypothesis for he relied not upon any Hypothesis but upon the received Custom of the Church And that he did rely upon as is confessed But he did not in the least rely upon any thing at all of the pretended Sibyl Nor hath this Champion produced I think any one Proof that either Tertullian or any other of the Ancient or Modern Christians did at all rely upon any such Authority for that Practice but all unanimously relied upon Tradition from the Apostles His whole Book is full of Fallacy and Deceit and of the very Spirit and Genius of an Heretick who makes no scruple to abuse the whole Church of Christ and the most Excellent Persons in it to maintain his own Principles It is certain that divers of the great Truths of Christianity were known to the Gentiles long before and received by Tradition from the Common Parents of Mankind but received as Articles of Faith by Christians upon the Authority of Christ and his Apostles And such was this which he fathers upon an Impostor and pretends the Church received it from him without any Proof of either whereas if he was a Christian it is much more likely that he received the Hypothesis from the Practice of the Church at that time and is therefore rather an Evidence of it Other matters of this Book have been considered by learned Men of our own Country and I think I need say no more of this with any regard to
him But as to the Practice besides all this positive and Affirmative Evidence I do deny that any competent Evidence can be produced among all the Churches of the World of any where the Christian Religion was planted without it or where it was introduced by any particular Person upon any special Occasion at any different time after the first planting of Christianity there in all those Ages since the Apostles being verily persuaded that no such thing can be produced but what will strongly confirm and illustate the contrary Evidence like Mr. Vsher's Flourish with his most ancient Manuscript Missals wherein the Commemoration of the Dead doth no where appear which yet were but two in all if not all but one mentioned by two several Authors and that no compleat Missal neither but only Liber Sacramentorum an Abstract and it self at last not to be found as his expression habebatur seems to imply a good Argument of the Agreement of all or most others in that particular that so industrious a Searcher into ancient Records and Monuments of Antiquity of that kind especially could neither see nor hear of any other either at home or abroad wherein it was not Such another Exception may perhaps be met with which may serve to confirm the general Rule but not any thing considerable I believe to any other purpose Certain it is it must either have been settled in all those several Places in the World where Churches were planted together with the rest of the Christian Doctrines and Institutions and then it must have proceeded from the same Founders who agreed as unanimously in this as they did in other necessary things of which sort this may therefore be concluded to be one or it must have had a several distinct particular Introduction by it self in all or most of those several Places and be derived from several Authors Originals Occasions and Times and then the Accounts of its special and particular Introduction in all probability would have very much varied in several places at least have remained upon Record or by Tradition in some But not a word of any such thing can I find that was ever heard of in any part of the World but a Unanimous Agreement in all both in the Practice continued by Custom and Original by Tradition from the Apostles And thus much for Proof à posteriori from Evidence of Matter of Fact which I think enough to satisfie any reasonable Man of competent Ability and to convince any Man of Modesty and Sincerity yet because simple genuine Truth is always consistent with all that is such it may ex abundanti gratifie an honest ingenuous Reader to observe briefly the Vniversal Agreement of this Catholick Practice of the Church of Christ 1. With common Reason and the Nature of things 2. With the common Sentiments of the Primitive Christians concerning the middle State of Souls 3. With divers plain Texts of the Holy Scriptures And 4. with the common Practice of the Jews in and before our Saviour's time never reprehended by him or any of his Apostles and therefore allowed by all and indeed practised by them and on the contrary the Inconsistence of the obstinate Opposition with Truth and Justice in divers respects As for Common Reason The Universe is of vast and unconceivable extent in it we see are many great Bodies Orbs and Regions the Life of Man upon this of the Earth is very short the Time from the Resurrection of our Saviour to this is near 1700 years and how much more it may be to the General Judgment no Mortal knows in the mean time the Souls of Mortals go out of their Bodies in infinitely various States of Purity and Impurity And certainly it is most reasonable that there should be not only one general Distinction of Souls but moreover many distinct Places States and Conditions wherein the separate Souls are disposed according to their several Qualifications when they go out of the Body And as that curious Observer of the Works of Nature as well of the Holy Scriptures the late Lord Chief Justice Hale speaking of towardly Plants by Death transplanted into another Region a Garden of Happiness and Comfort adds And possibly by continuance of time as they received Improvement and Perfection here so in that other Region they add to their Degrees of Perfection and are promoted to farther Accessions and Degrees and Stations of Happiness and Glory till they come to the State of Spirits of just Men made perfect Now in all these Varieties of States is there nothing capable of receiving Benefit by the Prayers of the Living Is there no Communion of Saints between those in the Body and those out of the Body But if there be how can it better be exercised or expressed than in the solemn Offices of the Church For the Common Sentiments of the Primitive Christians because it would be too long to recite so many Testimonies in this place and they are collected already to my hand by Sixtus Senensis and others I need but refer the Reader to them But this also is confessed and asserted by Blondel and Dalle but they would have us believe that they received them from an Impostor a Counterfeit Sibyl a groundless impudent and impious Calumny The Agreement with plain Scriptures is observable in that expression of our Saviour concerning the Sin which shall not be forgiven neither in this World neither in the World to come Mat. 12.32 and that which agrees with this of being cast into Prison and not coming out by any means till Payment of the last Farthing Mat. 5.25 Prisoners of Hope Zechar. 9.11 12. Sins blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come Act. 3.19 Such as shew the Incertainty of many Souls in their separate State even such as were Professors of a high Form in this World of what their final Doom shall be at that Day as Mat. 7.22 23. and 25.44 45. c. And the Recompence of Rewards at that day 2 Thess 1.6 7. 1 Cor. 5.5 Luk. 14.14.2 Tim. 4.8 c. Which if our confident Opposers had sufficiently considered one would think they should not have presumed to make so light of that middle State as for the maintaining of Parties to deprive so many Souls there of all Benefit they might receive by their surviving Friends here which many Apparitions even among Protestants do frequently signifie The Practice of the Jews I have noted already and shall add only here That in Discourse lately with one of them he assured me that the Form they now use for that purpose is generally believed by all to have been composed by Ezra and the Great Congregation I there also remembred an instance of the Practice of the Apostles themselves in St. Paul's Prayer for Onesiphorus in such a Form as is hardly to be met with for any Person living however proves it not in vain to Pray for any Person of whom there is Hope but not Certainty till that day So that tho' our great Man with more Considence I doubt than Conscience and without any Proof or Reason at all doth positively affirm him then living p. 210. he gets nothing at all by it Thus we see in this a Universal Agreement in all things but on the contrary if we examine the Obstinate Opposition of it throughout we shall find nothing solid and consistent in it neither with Truth nor Honesty nor any good Consequence but a plausible Pretence of the Pure Word of God to cover an impure Inclination and Desire to set aside the Authority which God instituted and set up themselves and their own Conceits in the place of it 2. Inconsistent with it self first denying or cavilling at the Antiquity or Universality of the Practice and then when they thought they had found out an Evasion confessing that which they could no longer for shame deny and betaking themselves to their new Invention 3. Inconsistent with the Sincerity Simplicity and Ingenuity of the Gospel in their shameless Shuffles Cavils and Evasions of which I have noted divers and many more might be observed but there is one not to be omitted here their alleadging the Writings of Epiphanius Chrysostome Augustin and others against not only their own but the confessed ancient Practice of the Church in their time in this Case Inconsistent with that Modesty Respect and Decency which the Gospel requires toward all in their Censuring as delirous not only some particular Persons but generally all the most Holy Ancient Christians in what was their common Sentiments and is believed by the most learned of the Church of England to be plainly taught in the Holy Scriptures 5. Inconsistent with that Reverence and Regard that Christians should have for the Honour of the Church of Christ his Promises to it and Care of it in so foul and scandalous an Imputation as that they received their common Notions of the present State of separate Souls in the other World from an Impostor which was not their Impudence therein as notorious as it is groundless and destitute of any proof at all might prove a Tentation to unsettled Souls to suspect all to be no better And for other Consequences it is plain they lead the way to all others to reject their own usurped Authority with the same Ease and Impudence that they do that of the Church of Christ and to set up their own Conceits against theirs and pretend Scripture for it and so to an endless Course of Separations Schisms Sects and Confusions and in conclusion set up that Authority over others which they themselves in the mean time reject as by their Synod of Dort and others in France appears And besides all this it is much to be feared that they lead multitudes of Souls into that miserable Security and Presumption wherewith our Saviour hath acquainted us that many will find themselves deceived at that day Mat. 7.22 And therefore if these be not pertinacious Schismaticks and Hereticks speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them and therefore carefully to be avoided I know not who are or what so many Cautions in the Scripture to that purpose do signifie FINIS