the Sea 't is a hot fire surely that is not cooled with so much water Others will have it in Mount Aetna Vesuvius or some such burning Mongibels Another is so ridiculous as to fancy it in an hill of Ireland the Torments one will have them to be only by fire another by fire and water a third neither by fire nor water but by the violent convulsions of hope and fear The Tormentors some say they are the Holy Angels others say they are the very Devils The extremity of Pains according to some are as violent as Hell according to others they are more mild Their continuance some will have it to be to the end of the world others about ten years others during the Popes pleasure so that if he speak but the word they are free They likewise contradict Scripture for that saith The bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 and if this be so what need of purging by the fire of Purgatory That saith when the Righteous die they enter into peace and they rest in their beds Isai 57.2 And if this be so that they are at peace and rest then they are Lyars who say they enter into Purgatory-Torments That saith Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth that they may rest from their Labours as it is in the Text and if this be so that they are Blessed from the time of their death and thenceforth rest from their Labours then surely they never feel the pains of that hot Region for Blessedness cannot consist with misery nor rest with trouble nor reward with punishment This Text is so clear against it that as we are told a Famous Doctor of the Church of Rome and one of the Sorbon-Colledge Picherellus by name did ingeniously confess St. John had in these few words put out the fire of Purgatory They that die in the Lord rest from their Labours they suffer nothing only they do something that is cease not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. 4.8 should serve our turn True Faith can no more be without Good Works than the Sun without light or the Fire without heat shew we then our Faith by our Works always abounding in the work of the Lord for our labour will not be in vain being our works will follow us So much of this Text of Scripture Now of the Text of Nature a Text dead indeed in the Letter but alive in the Spirit and well may he become our Text who was himself a Living Sermon for his life was truly Doctrinal he living in the Lord and his death a good Application he dying in the Lord. As for his life it was according to the designe of the Gospel and the character of a true Christian for it was sober righteous and godly His Sobriety appeared in all his deportment in his personal and private capacity He was a man exceeding humble notwithstanding the great temptations he had to be Proud both upon the account of Birth and Fortune he was it is well known of an Antient and Honourable Family and he had Providence so ordering it a large and plentiful Estate and to use the words of the Psalmist his Lot fell into a good ground yea he had a goodly Heritage notwithstanding he was so Great in the eye of the world that he was little in his own he was so humble and lowly He was likewise very discreet and reserved not apt to be familiar with every one and with whom he was so it was not suddenly but after he understood them and their humor He was a man of few words but they were wise and to the purpose He observed with Solomon that in many words there wanteth not sin and folly and that he that refraineth his lips is wise He knew how to govern his Tongue and his Passion for he kept both from all extravagancy His calmness and moderation of Affection was very remarkable though he knew how to be angry yet he seldom practiced it for he so ruled his passion that it was a hard matter to discover any in him Chastity a rare Virtue indeed in this Debauched Age wherein many take a pride in sin that they may be of the fashion adventuring to take Crimes upon Trust and to perish by Credit this rare vertue of Chastity was conspicuous in him And so was Temperance his moderation in this Point is well known unto all men how free he was from all Excess His Righteousness appeared in his Dealing and Carriage towards man giving every one his due He was a Loyal Faithful Obedient Subject to the King whom he served in the Office of a Magistrate and a Souldier as a Justice of Peace and a Deputy-Lieutenant he thought nothing too much either to do or give for his Soveraign being always ready to serve him in Person and Goods And as he served his King so he served his Country willingly truly and faithfully I may say of him as a Roman Historian does of another he was Vir bonus Reipublicae necessarius a good man and necessary in the Common-wealth His practice was according to his Office to do justice The cause which he knew not he searched out and when it lay in darkness his strict and Impartial examination often brought it to light and then did truth and justice meet How many were beholding to him for justice how many for Counsel how many for peace for partly by counsel and partly by authority he reconciled many differences and prevented more his deportment in his Office was grave and something severe to discountenance and awe unruly people but his carriage at other times was sweet and affable He was not like Nabal that was so proud and churlish that a man could not speak unto him no he despised no man but would speak to the meanest and hear the meanest speak to him again Access to his person was easie for though his condition were High yet he was not apt to over-look his Neighbours He was a good Common-wealths man improving his Estate and maintaining divers other mens by keeping them at constant work all the year As for his charity to the Poor though some perhaps suspected it because he joyned with others in putting the Law in execution against Vagabonds and wandring Beggars there was a mistake in it he had charity for the Poor though not for Beggars There is a difference put between these by the Law of Moses by the Gospel of Christ and by the Laws of most Nations God in the Law ordered that there should be no beggar among his people Israel and yet he sayd that the poor should never cease out of the Land The distinction between them is this Mendicus est qui Publice stipem petit Pauper qui non potest se sustentare c. a Beggar is one that publickly seeks for Relief wandring about betaking himself to no calling when he is able
that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Titus 2. 11 12 13 14 And it was the charge of Christ to his followers That they should let their lights shine before men that is be Examples and Patterns of Piety and Holiness to all the World In short The Gospel of our Lord and Saviour doth strictly prohibit all Sins and Vices and every evil work which defiles a Man's mind or weakens his Body or blemishes his Fame and wastes his Estate And secondly it doth with great Authority enjoyn the practice of all Goodness and Vertue and every thing else that is worthy of praise And therefore that Life and Conversation which becomes the Gospel must in the first place be Pure and Holy clean and undefiled Secondly The Conversation which becometh the Gospel of Christ is that which is managed with all meekness and moderation in the mind and spirit and which carefully promotes Union Peace and Love in the World This is apparent from our Saviour's command Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in mind and from the Apostles direction that we should be mean in our own eyes in honour preferring one another and to condescend to men of low degree and to let our moderation be known unto all men So that the frame and temper of Mind and Spirit with which we are to govern our selves is to be meek and humble soft and gentle calm and moderate to all we converse with Again the Gospel of Christ directs us to further all the degrees of Love Amity and Quietness Our Saviour having call'd all Peacemakers the Children of God and pronounc'd them happy and also declared who are the heavenly-born Christians even they that love one another And how frequently do all the Apostles command and order us to be of modest and peaceable behaviour and to live in an unfeigned mutual love one with another As Rom. 12. 9 10 17 18. Let love be without dissimulation Be kindly affectioned one towards another in brotherly love in honor preserving one another Recompence to no man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men And if it be possible as much as in you lies live peaceably with all men Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things where with me may edifie one another Rom. 14. 19. And the most passionate and earnest request that ever St. Paul made in his life was that to his Colossians Put on therefore as the Elect of God Holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye And above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of Perfection Colossians 3. 12 13 14. And as the Gospel of Christ doth commend to our study practice unity peace and love every thing that promotes their flourishing growth so it forbids whateyer may obstruct and hinder it As namely all rash censuring and judging tale-bearing and backbiting whispering of lies and scandals publishing of Libels and defamations charging us not to give railing for railing but to avoid all occasions of janglings and quarrels and to keep our selves from proud peevish and passionate humours and sowing the seeds of strife and sedition And what is the great end and design of all these Evangelical Laws but only that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Timothy 2. 2. And thus very briefly I have shewed what that Conversation is which becomes the Gospel of Christ All which is excellently comprised in those words of the Apostle Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God that is the Gospel-dispensation doth not consist in meats and drinks in controversies and disputes about things Indifferent but in solid Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And the like character doth St. James give of the Religion and Gospel of Christ For saith he If you have bitter envying in your hearts then the Religion which you have and profess is Earthly Sensual and Devilish But the Religion which is from above and came from God and Christ teaches all Men first to be Pure and Holy and secondly to be Peaceable and gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisie And the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make peace James 3. from Verse the 13. to the end of the Chapter And so much for the Third Particular I pass to the Fourth To consider the Reasons why in Evil and Perilous Times we should then more especially lead pure and peaceable Lives according to the Gospel of Christ. And the Reasons are these Three First That we may if possibly prevail with God to be our favourer and friend And this is no small Argument to perswade us to be more Holy and Religious in dangerous and evil Times than at any other Because then it is we stand most in need of having God our Assistant and Defender For it 's he alone which hath the ordering and managing of all Humane Greatness and Wisdom and worldly affairs which generally have their Events and Successes according as God approves or dislikes the persons in whose hands they are plac'd For you must know that let the Cause or Design be what it will that any Nation or number of Men do take in hand yet there is an Over-seeing Eye and an Over-ruling Hand which turns and disposes all things to the advantage of them that endeavour to please him and to the destruction of them whom he is justly provok'd to hate And therefore in all Humane undertakings and Publick affairs it will be the prudence and interest of men to gain if possibly the great God on their side For if men will coin Projects and Designs in their own inventions If they will use their own art and skill in the management of them and relye upon their own parts and power to bring them to pass and all this without any concern or care whether God be their Friend or not I think such persons have no good grounds to hope that any prosperous events will crown their enterprize or endeavours The Royal Prophet who had run through as many various stages of Humane affairs and Worldly changes as ever any Man or Monarch did and who had observed that Providence did always interpose his Wisdom and power in the ordering and disposing of all things here below did at last conclude with this Maxim That the Greatest worldly Power and the deepest Policies of States-men were weak and foolish if God did not take the Actors under his Countenance and Protection Hence it was that he attributed the Art and Abilities which Men use in the building of
an House and the power of preserving and defending a City when built not unto the Men themselves but unto the Great God who is the Maker and Upholder of all things Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Except the Lord keep ' the City the watchman waketh but in vain Psal 127.1 After the same manner he attributes all Conquests and Victories not to the courage and conduct of Generals and their Armies but unto the God that goes along with them and fights for them Psal 108.11 12. If thou O Lord go not forth with our Hosts we cannot be saved from trouble for vain is the help of Man Nay though David was considerably assisted sometimes by Princes and Allies and though he had often seen the undaunted briskness and courage of his own Souldiers in many Battels yet he at last found it experimentally true That it was better to trust in the Lord than to put any considence in Man That it was better to trust in the Lord than to put any considence in Princes And at another time when this Royal Prophet was in the greatest straits and dangers and few would side with him or fight for him yet even then he was confident of Deliverance and Victory and that because he sound God to be his Friend The Lord is on my side I will not fear For what can Man do unto me The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon mine Enemies Psal 118.6 7. And as all the power and force of Armies without God's favour and assistance is frail and weak so the most subtil and deepest contrived designs of the ablest Politicians without Divine help and approbation withers and proves abortive With what wrath and malice did Sanballat and Tobiah the Arabians the Ammonites and the Ashdodites sit in Council and secretly conspire to surprize and fall upon Nehemiah and the Jews just as they were employed and busie in building the walls of Jerusalem But God saith the Text defeated this stratagem for God brought their Counsel to nought Nehem. 4.7 8 15. In all David's Kingdom there was not a greater States-man than Achitophel and we find he proved a good Counsellor as long as he was Loyal to his Prince But when he entred into a conspiracy with Absalom to raise a War and Rebellion against his King and Father how soon was all his wisdom turned into foolishness And the Text tells us it was God himself that did it 2 Sam. 17.14 For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good Counsel of Achitophel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom Now then if God's love to us and helping of us be so absolutely necessary as that without it we cannot either do what we design nor finish what we are doing nor be released from what we suffer nor be secured and saved from what we fear then it will be our highest wisdom and greatest Interest to engage God if possibly to espouse our Cause and take our part For according to the measure of God's will revealed and the usual proceedings of Providence in this World we shall find that Good and Holy Men have never been forsaken of God in any portion of their Lives For God is such a Lover of Goodness and Righteousness and what is like himself that he hath given us all possible Assurances of providing for the Innocent defending the Helpless relieving the Oppressed and of favouring the Righteous dealings of Men. Upon which account it is that God is so oft in Scripture call'd a Tower a Castle a Fortress a Rock of Defence a Refuge in due time of Trouble a Saviour and Mighty Deliverer And if we can but in any reasonable measure imitate David in his sincere Piety and Holiness we shall then have the same cause and occasion to say with him That the Angel of the Lord pitcheth his Tent round about them that fear him That the Lord never faileth them that put their trust in him That he is a Sun and a Shield that he will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Psalm 84.11 Suitable to which are those words so confidently spoken by St. Paul We know that all things work together for good to them that love God Romans 8. 28. To which may be adjoyned the assurance of Christ himself If ye seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness all these things shall be added unto you Matth. 6. 33. Seeing then that a Holy Religious Life is so beneficially operative and prevailing with God we ought in evil and perilous days to be then most carefully employed in it For then is the time we stand most in need of God's Power Love and Protection when we see our selves forsaken of all worldly helps and assistances And when there is nothing but Clouds and Darkness round about us then is the light of God's countenance most chearing and refreshing Nor doth Divine wisdom and Power so much delight and ravish our Souls as when it discovers the Snares that were laid for us and saves us just upon the brink of falling into them And that a good and holy Life is thus prevalent with God to protect and defend save and deliver us in evil and dangerous times we have the Testimony of Men in all Ages both of the Jewish and Christian Church who by one signal Demonstration have declared it to be an undoubted Truth and the constant matter of their Faith And this Demonstration was their usual exercise of one solemn Religious Duty or Service peculiarly appropriated to the particular time of worldly Adversity and Temporal Judgments call'd by the name of Fasting and Humiliation For we all very well know that publick or private Fasts are never appointed or kept but when a Kingdom or Person is under some heavy Pressures and Afflictions or the fear and apprehensions of some approaching danger and misery or for the commemorating some signal Judgment and Calamity that is past and we were mercifully saved and delivered from Now what is this Fasting or Humiliation but a taking a Revenge on our Sins which caused God to be our Enemy A putting our selves upon bettering our lives and to be for the Time to come more Godly Righteous and Sober in this present World And what is the end and design of exercising these Religious Duties upon such particular Days but only to seek and find if possibly God's favour to reconcile our selves to him and to prevail with him to stand our Defence and become our Saviour So that we can never religiously observe days of Fasting and Humiliation but it 's with a belief that if we do amend our ways and better our lives then God will be favourable to us and deliver us from all the Judgments we groan under and prevent the Sorrows and Calamities which we justly fear are coming upon us But against what I have said I know it
the Redeemer A voice or sound from Heaven was heard by all the Apostles on the day of Pentecost and it was to confirm our Faith in the Holy Ghost the Comforter A voice from Heaven was heard by Peter in his Vision and it was to confirm our Faith in the Holy Catholick Church A voice from Heaven was heard by John in this place and it was to confirm our Faith concerning the life everlasting and the blessedness of those that die in the Lord it was a sweet comfortable reviving voice it made amends for the sad cry of that voice we hear of Isai 40. 6. All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Whereas the voice heard by Isaiah the Prophet struck all the living dead the voice heard by John the Evangelist makes all the dead in the Lord alive and blessed This voice confirms Christs promise and our assurance of blessedness in the Life to come He promises us that if we will hear his voice believe in him and repent of our sins we shall have Life eternal and never come into condemnation but pass from death to life and to assure us he will be as good as his promise he sent this voice from Heaven to tell us that they that die in the Lord shall live again and be Blessed for ever This Heavenly truth is ever to be remembred and therefore the voice bid John commit it to writing Write say's the voice blessed are the dead which die in the Lord a sentence worthy to be writ by an Angel in letters of Gold never to be Obliterated but to remain legible to all succeeding Generations that all may read understand and receive comfort The voice from Heaven commanded John to Write How then dare any Papist say that the Evangelists and Apostles had no command from God to write their Gospels and Epistles but that they wrote upon the intreaty of some Friends or some emergent occasions when St. Paul saith All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and St. Peter That Prophecy came not by the will of man but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And St. John That the voice commanded him to Write and telling him what he should write namely Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Blessedness is a thing that every man naturally desires and seeks after but in determining what it is and wherein it consists there is a great dispute some placing it in pleasure some in honour some in riches some in knowledge some in vertue St. Austin's Observation out of Varro is well known that there are between two and three hundred several Opinions concerning the Soveraign Good in the enjoyment of which Blessedness consists But among Christians it is agreed upon as an unquestionable truth that the supream Good which alone can make men blessed is God and that he may be enjoyed both in this life and the life to come The present enjoyment of him here in this life is termed the blessedness of the way the blessedness of expectation the blessedness of Grace the Future enjoyment of him hereafter in the life to come is termed the blessedness of the country the blessedness of fruition the blessedness of glory The blessedness of this life is so imperfect that it is scarce to be termed Blessedness we being so compassed about with sin and temptation trouble and sorrow No man is truly happy before death for that is the passage to a blessed life Though death be called an enemy and a terrible thing yea of all terrible things the most terrible yet this is but in respect of Nature for to men in the state of Grace it is but a rest from their Labours and an entrance into Blessedness But if this be so that the dead are the only Blessed Why say some do we not die that we may be Blessed like as Scipio hearing his Father tell of these Glories the Soul enjoys in immortality say'd why do I tarry thus long upon earth why do not I hasten to die No death is to be waited not hasted They that hasten their own death to avoid shame with Achitophel or to fly the terror of a guilty conscience with Judas or to prevent an intended villany with Pelagia or to be thought valorous with Rasis or to gain immortality with Cato Vlicensis and some others who hearing of the immortality of the Soul made-away themselves to go the sooner to that Immortality they that hasten their dissolution and prevent Nature are guilty of self-murther die in their sins and are therefore Accursed It is not sayd Blessed are all that die no it is far otherwise for they that die in their sins shall loose the vision and fruition of Almlghty God the society of Angels and Saints the joyes and pleasures of Heaven and they shall be cast into Hell the place of darkness torment and woe there to suffer unquenchable flames a worm never dying that is to say the perpetual guilt of a tormenting conscience binding in chains of misery conversing with Devils weeping and howling and gnashing of teeth to all Eternity but blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. And if the dead are Blessed then it follows that they are in being Non entis nulla est affectio that which hath no being hath no property but the dead have this property that they are Blessed therefore they must needs be alive again dead they may be to the world but alive to God for he is not a God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Luke 20. 38. Hence we may likewise gather something to verifie that saying of the Apostle Death is swallowed up in Victory for being there can be no felicity where death hath a victory the dead's being blessed shews they have got a conquest and victory over death and therefore thanks be given to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ But here a doubt ariseth What is meant by dying in the Lord Some render the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lord So Beza Domini causa vel propter Dominum in the Lords cause or for the Lord. Mede renders it as Beza does saying the Greek particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes the cause for which they died namely for the Lord and his cause but so Martyrs only are blessed That Martyrs are blessed is a truth sure and certain for our Saviour himself saith He that loseth his life for my sake and the Gospels shall find it But though Martyrs have a certain and a great share in this blessedness and though their Crowns may be deck'd with richer Jewels than other mens yet others may have Crowns and a proportionable share of Glory as well as they And therefore others do
fitly render it as we do In the Lord understanding it not only of Martyrs but likewise of all others that die in the Faith and Fear of God They may be said to die in the Lord that die willingly chearfully resigning their Souls to God that gave them and freely parting with the world and that die penitently in the act of contrition as St. Austin is said to do breathing out his last gasp with a sigh for his sins and that die devoutly calling upon the Lord for mercy and forgiveness and that die charitably forgiving all the world after the example of Christ and his Proto-martyr St. Stephen and that die peaceably having made peace with God and the world and their own consciences they that depart this life with a willing resignation of themselves with repentance faith prayer charity and peace may be said to die in the Lord and be concluded blessed But if we desire to die in the Lord as all good Christians should do we must resolve to live in the Lord for they that do not live in the Lord are not likely to die in the Lord. We must not live the life of the wicked and then think to be saved with Balaam's wish Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his No if we will die the death of the righteous we must live the life of the righteous We must live then in the Faith and Fear of God in repentance and obedience piety and devotion love and charity and so shall we die in the Lord and be blessed For blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth And this denotes the time when their blessedness begins 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from henceforth Some refer this to the time of the former Vision of John as a consolation to those that should suffer the persecution fore-told therein for it was revealed to him in a Vision that a great Tryal should befal the Christians in the time of Dioclesian the cruel Tyrant and that their persecutions should be so sore that they were happiest who died soonest that within a while should be taken out of this life from doing their part in the evil to come that should die quickly or within a short time thereby to avoid such cruel storms and persecutions and to enjoy their reward of peace and bliss Others refer it to the Resurrection and the day of Judgment the time when those that die in the Lord shall be raised to a blessed life the time spoken of Rev. 11.18 when he shall give the reward unto his Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and to them that fear his Name Small and Great Others refer it to the hour of death as if the sense were this that they that die in the Lord from the time of their death from that very instant they are blessed they no sooner loose a temporal life but they find an eternal one So soon as Lazarus died his Soul was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosom The same day that the Penitent Thief expired on the Cross the same day was he with Christ in Paradice Pious Souls when once they are absent from the body they are quickly present with the Lord when once they depart they are blessed from henceforth And of this we are further assured as by the voice from Heaven so by the Spirit of God it is so Yea saith the Spirit Let Heathens and Hereticks deny or doubt the Immortality of the Soul the Resurrection of the Body and the blessedness of the dead because they know no better and let wicked and ungodly men deny these things because they live no better for they fancy them not to be because they would not have them to be their guilty consciences telling them that if such things be it will be ill with them Let such I say think or speak what they will still we are to conclude that they are cursed who die in their sins and that they are blessed that die in the Lord Yea saith the Spirit so it is for the Spirit saith so in divers places of Scripture telling us that the death of good men that die in the Lord is pretious in his sight that there is hope in their end that all tears shall be wiped from their eyes that they shall enter into joy that there is a Crown of righteousness laid up for them that they shall be with Christ that they shall rest from their Labors and that their works shall follow them And herein their Blessedness consists viz. in a relaxation of their Labours and a retribution of their Works in that they have Rest and Recompence in that they are discharged of their Work and for their Work in that they are freed from it and pay'd well for it They rest from their Labours We are all born in and to Labour we are born by our Mothers Labour and we live by our own This Life is made up of care and toyl pains and pain trouble and sorrow They that are Poor labour for maintenance and are fain in the sweat of their brow to eat their Bread all the days of their life And they that are Rich and have plenty seldom say they have enough but still Labour for more their endeavour to get care to keep avarice to increase fear to loose their Riches these torment them and disturb their happiness as well as repose They that are under a Cloud labour to get from it and appear something in the World and they on whom Fortune shines and Honors sparkles they labour for greater Lustre They that are Low labour to look up and they that are High labour to over-look one another Some labour for Honour some for Wealth some for Knowledg and some for Health The best Christians they are with Paul In labours more abundant exercised dayly in mortifying the flesh with its affections and lusts in denying and even crucifying themselves for those sins that crucified Christ instriving against temptations to sin and their Spiritual enemies in suffering affliction and bearing the Cross Thus our Life is a succession of Labours as well as Sins our sins growing with our years and sorrows with sins and troubles with sorrows so that the comforts of this life are rather Solatia miserorum quam gaudia beatorum comforts of those that are miserable rather than joyes of those that are happy and therefore we have reason to conclude those happy that die in the Lord and so rest from their Labours for such are discharged and free and that both from sin and the evil consequents thereof The Papists would have us believe that after death the Souls of men enter into Purgatory there to suffer sorrow and torment for a while till they be purged and fitted for the region of bliss but they contradict themselves concerning the place the torments the tormentors the extremity of the torments and the continuance under them The place some say is in the bottom of