Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	call_v	day_n	supper_n	10,399	5	10.1829	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20964	The waters of Siloe To quench the fire of purgatory and to drowne the traditions, limboes, mans satisfactions and all popish indulgences, against the reasons and allegations of a Portugall frier of the order of St. Frances, supported by three treatises. The one written by the same Franciscan and entituled The fierie torrent, &c. The other two by two doctors of Sorbon. The one intituled The burning furnasse. The other The fire of Helie. By Peter Du Moulin minister of Gods word. Faithfully translated out of French by I.B.; Accroissement des eaux de Siloé. English	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Barnes, John, fl. 1600-1621, attributed name.; I. B., fl. 1612.	1612 (1612)	STC 7343; ESTC S111086	158,344	552

in this life must bee purged by fire They resemble foxes who being hunted doe saue themselues in some thick bush for they seeke only thorny and darke places 2. It is here spoken of a fire that trieth the worke but tormēteth not the persons 3. Also even in Purgatory the soules are not tried but punished for God needeth not their triall to knowe them 4. Againe here it is spoken of a fire wherein every mans worke shall be manifest In Purgatorie nothing is manifest to vs. 5. Againe of a fire wherein every mans works are tried Pag. 17.18 then also the worke of the Virgin Mary and of the Apostles which moved the autor of the fire of Helie to make them also to passe through Purgatory But he saith this fire shall bee to them as the fiery furnace was to the three children which seemed a moist wind Thus doth this doctor imagin or mock but his companions say nothing 6. It is here spoken of a fire that burneth the worke but not the soules and vpō this place it was that the Frier being demanded whether was whipped the thiefe or the theft answered with the mirth of all the assistants that it was the theft that was whipped 7. Hereto adioine that it is said if it burne the workeman shall haue losse but in Purgatory nothing is lost besides although the sins were burned yet in such burning there should be no losse 8. This examen and triall by fire is called Day but Purgatory if we list to beleeue them is vnder earth The fire of Helie denieth that this fire is called Day but note these words of the Apostle Every mans worke shal be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire For hee setteth this proofe in the day in sight and therefore the fire of Helie hath omitted these words The day shall declare it It is in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Frier hath changed them saith The day of the Lord shal declare them This day of the Lord say they is the day of death so large is their liberty to falsifie and to wrest For whoe did ever heare death called the day of the Lord Yea and admit this explication were receaueable how is every mans worke then revealed and manifested But the sense of this word day must bee taken from the same Apostle in the 13. verse of the next Chapter where this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth triall and iudgement 9. Againe S. Paul saith as by fire it is not then by fire and to no purpose do they bring vs in the words of S. Iohn Vidimus gloriam quasi vnigeniti for the barbarisme and incongruities of the vulgar translation must not be admitted for a rule The autor of the fire of Helie produceth yet another passage out of the 125 Psalme where this word Quasi importeth no similitude but the truth it selfe When Syon returned out of captivity we were as comforted but according to the Hebrew originall Wee were as they that dreame and so hath Pagnine and Arias and all good translations 10. Also throughout all this passage there is not one word whereby it may appeare that this tryall is made after this life I confesse that the rewarde of the faithfull is after this life and the fire of Helie neede not to admonish vs with such exclamations for the question concerneth not the time of the reward but the time of the triall 11. Neither is there any word that speaketh of the torment of the soules for the saide fire of Helie endevouring to proue that here it speaketh of tormēts is deceived in his Logicke For these be his words Doth not S. Paule say Pag. 16. If any mans works burne he shall incurre damages Is not hee that is tormented endamaged An argument in the second figure composed all of affirmatiues He that is tormented endureth damage He whose works burne endures damage Thē he whose work burneth is tormēted Besides the first proposition is manie times false and particularly in this matter considering that the torment of the soules in Purgatory is if wee beleeue these men without losse to the good of the soules Now herein I must frākly confesse that the auctor of the fire of Helie hath yet some dexterity in sophistry Du Val. but the Frier speaketh like an Ideot and a man of a crased braine for all his discourse is spent in laying of maximes and principles whereby hee will haue this case decided as if it were in him to impose lawes and principles in this businesse And indeed if you looke narrowly into the matter you shall finde these principles to bee the case it selfe for they set downe as a plaine case and confessed that in this fire the people are tormented and do feele the trial of this fire Now this is the point of the controversie and that which wee doe stiffe and stedfastly deny that S. Paule speaketh no such thing Howbeit in the end he must haue the grace of it admireth my slacknesse as being incapable to comprehend his so childish principles As for the explication of this passage it must be gathered out of that that goeth before S. Paule in the 5. verse of this chapter speaketh of doctors and pastours and of the preaching of the Gospell And particularly of Doctors who holding a good foundatiō which is Jesus Christ do neverthelesse adde of their inventions and slight doctrines which he calleth wood hay and stubble in regard of the pure and solide doctrine which he tearmeth Gold silver and pretious stones This wood therefore this stubble being examined by the word of God as mettals in fire can not subsist but must needs be consumed But as cōcerning the parson of the pastor he shal be saved in regard of the good foundation that he hath holden yet after triall made as it were by fire This explicatiō is naturall and springeth of it selfe and every one that knoweth that S. Paule here speaketh of shepheards whom he nameth Builders Hieron cōtra Iovinian lib. 2. will easily admit this explication And hereto do agree Saint Ambrose S. Hierome Sedulius Tertullian in his first book against Marcion cap. 6. yea even the chiefe doctours of the Romish Church Lyra Thomas Caietan and Bellarmine in his first booke of Purgatory cap. 4. They all hold I say that these builders are the pastours and the preachers § Vtraque Hormildas Pope in the Tomes of the coūsels saith that the builders are the doctors and the fire the Synode Dial. 4. c. 39. and the building the preaching of the Gospell yet doth the Fryer make a scorne of all this and saith that they be meere fopperies This also is the reason that in the front of his book hee armeth himselfe with these titles The reverent father Frier Iames an Observantin Portugall Doctor of Divinity and preacher ordinary to the King that so hee may with the greater auctority fight

the fire of Helie p. 44. The lowest place is hell the habitation of the damned and the same is divided if wee beleeue our adversaries into two parts The one where the soules are tormented in fire the other where they are tormented in snowe Throughout al● the word of God can we not find that that ever any came out of this place Yet Pope Gregory the first in the first Booke of his Dialogues cap. 12. reporteth that S. Severus raised a dead bodie whome the Divels had carried away Also Damascen In 4 Dist 45 quest 2. and after him Thomas Durand and Richard doe tell vs that by the prayers of S. Gregory Traian an heathen Emperour was fetched out of hell Gabriel Biel in his 56. Lesson vpon the Cannon of the Masse holdeth the same opinion And Ciacconus hath written an Apologie expresly for this history Cayer and the Doctors that subscribed to his book do approue this historie The secōd place but his cōpanions do reiect it The second place is the Purgatory that serveth for such as are indeed righteous and do not sinne but in their life time haue committed some trespasses for which they haue not satisfied The same ●ope Gregory teacheth that so soone as ● man is deceased his soule is presented before the Iudge Lib. 4. c. 36. also that sōtime there happeneth abuse they bring before God one that was not called As saith he it chanced to one named Stephen who being deceased and his soule presented before God immediatly as God saw him hee said that was not the man that hee had called for but that it was ●n other Stephen a beater of Iron who therevpon died incontinentlie and the former Stephen revived againe and was sent backe because hee dyed before he was called These soules thus presented before the Iudge if they need any purging are instantly sent to this second place which they tearme Purgatory And this doctrine is grounded vpon this principle which is a third article of their faith and taken out of the vnwritten word Read the catechisme of the coūcel of Trens in the ch●● of pennāce namely that Jesus Christ by his death and passion hath indeede dischardged vs from the fault and from the paines due to sinnes committed before baptisme but from the paine du●● to sinnes committed after baptisme he hath not discharged vs. Therefore that such as haue not made full satisfaction in this life by fastings scourgings gifts to the Church c shal be sent to Purgatory there to finish their satisfaction and to pay as they say even to the last penny Herehence grewe that pennance which the Priest imposeth vpon the sinner which do farre differ from the pennance vsed in the primitiue Church which was publicke of long continuance and rigorous thereby to humble the sinner and to repaire the scandall to the Congregation but at this day in the Church of Rome they impose for the most part privat pennances and the same either very easie or ridiculous these doe they make vse of to prevent Purgatory and yet to pay and satisfy Gods iustice The formes of these pennances are to say a set number of Anees intermixed with Paters vpon a paire of beads to scourge their bodies or vpon t●e bare flesh to gird themselues with a●cord or to goe in pilgrimage to Saint ●●mes in Galicia N. Giles an 768. c. Our Annals do informe vs of a pennance imposed by a ●ope vpon one Robert the Norman surnamed the Divell vpon sundry his ●ots committed that is that for the space of seven yeares hee should not ●●eake and that he should all that time 〈◊〉 at a staier foote and take no other food but the relicks of such bones as a Grayhound should haue gnawn Was i● meet to abridge the benefit of Iesus Christ and to supply the places with such frivolous devises and in such coūterfeit quoine to satisfie the iustice of God which Iesus Christ had before satisfied to the full The Frier pag 75. As concerning the torments that the soules doe there endure these our masters doe tell vs that all the fires and torments in this life are ●ut easie in regard of the heate of the ●te of Purgatorie and that the tormēt ●hereof equalleth that of the damned This doctrine was not yet receaued in the Church of Rome when to the Cānō of the Masse they added these words ensuing which the Priest must daily say for the soules in Purgatory Memento Domine Remember Lord thy servants whose soules doe rest in the sleepe of peace Hereby it appeareth that they then beleeved that the paine was easie or rather none at all and that the soules for whom they prayed did rest in peace as in a sleepe Hereto accordeth the saying of the aforenamed Gregory who advoweth that the soules of S. Severus S. Pascasius wrought miracles in the Bathes where they lay in Purgatory Lib. 7. Epist 61. For it is hard to worke any great miracles in such cruell torments This is the same Pope Gregory who doth in earnest confesse that the Apostles celebrating the Lords supper added vnto the consecration nothing but the Lords prayer and so consequently prayed not for any soules in Purgatory Againe the Church of Rome holdeth this torment to be of long continuance for every sinne they must abide there seaven years besides also that we pray for some that died many hundred yeares since And in this regard doth the Pope grant pardons some for fifty some for an hundred thousand yeares and the Frier may verie well remember that when I shewed him in the Masse booke a praier that contained foure fiftie thousand yeares of pardon thereto adioined he did not onlie advow it but tooke vpon him to defend these so ●iberal indulgences In the Church of S. Bibian at Rome vpon the day of all Saintes they haue sixe hundred thousand yeares of verie pardon for the space of one whole day In the booke of Romane Indulgences these sixe hundred thousand years are writtē at large The Pope that granted that pardon pre●upposing that a soule may haue committed so many sinnes besids those for which the paines of Jesus Christ haue ●atisfied that hee must haue so manie ●eares of torment to purge all his sins ●nlesse the Masses and suffrages of the ●ving togither with the Popes indulgences doe procure him ease and abbreviation of his paines At Paris in the entering into a chappel of the friers Fevillans in the suburbs of S. Honorat hangeth to be seene a long bedrole of pardons wherein among other is contained that vpon everie daie of lent there are to bee purchased three thousande eight hundred sixtie seaven yeares and two hundred and seaven Quarentines of daies of verie pardon In the church of S. Eusebius at Rome they haue seaven thousand foure hundred fifty and foure Quarenteins of daies of verie pardon for such as shall bring thither any honest offering and as

ensuing besides the aforesaid absurdities hath yet this particular that it presupposeth that the Lords praier is said for the dead also If so thē do we also pray that God would giue them their dayly bread As for bread it is the lesse strange because the fire of Purgatory is sufficient to bake it and sith in the Masse it is said that the soules do sleepe in this fire and rest in a slumber of peace it is like whē they awake they haue a good appetite But I cannot comprehende howe this bread may be called Dayly sith there they haue neither day nor sun Hereto let vs adioine the same that our doctors haue confessed That God hath already pardoned those roasted soules from all their offences that he only requireth of them the paines due to the sins already pardoned how can we thē desire God to forgiue thē their sins which are already forgiven them A lyer must haue a good memory The last passage for subtiety beareth away the bel Iesus Christ saith the Monk shed his blood for many therefore for the dead What need he to seeke so farre set proofes to proue that which we confesse who denieth but the blood of Iesus Christ was shed for many for al the faithful for all the Saints and Martyrs How impertinent also is this collection that the Frier here maketh out of the ancients to proue that the Lords Supper is a sacrifice What maketh it for Purgatory Sith we grant that it is a sacrifice but as it is said in the Masse A sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving neither Propitiatory nor redemptory but by representation because the supper is a commemoratiō of the death of Iesus Christ the only propitiatorie sacrifice And in regard hereof this sacrifice was alwaies called Eucharistia that is A thāksgiving As for the cōmemoration of the dead practised by some of the ancients in the supper I wil in the next chapter following proue that it maketh against Purgatorie for therein they also made a commemoration of the Apostles and Martyrs And in this place doth the Frier proue himselfe a most ridiculous flatterer in spreading abroad such Panegericks and praises of Monsieur Duranti one that deserveth commendations out of an honester mans mouth as also of our king who is too wise to thinke that such commēdations are other then shamelesse beginnings But what is become of those daies when men of his coat went in Procession in armes the pike in one hand the portuise in the other and were the firebrands of publike combustions encouraging the people against their king whilst we as good subiects even such as we will be to the death did shed our blood in his service Of like substance also is the fable that hee patcheth vp of a Masse song in England for the soule of the late Queene and the offerings contributed in her funerall wherevpon in full hope he exclaimeth At length the truth shall rise out of Democritus well you deceaue your selfe good man she rose from thence even in the time of the Apostles and primitiue Church But the divel hath dealt with her as he did with Ioseph when hee came out of the well she hath been sold to strange marchāts brought into bondage and put in subiection not as Ioseph was to an Eunuch but to the father of lies marveilous fruitfull 8 This now decided let vs into our way againe In his 19. page hee bringeth in a prayer for the dead taken out of Esay 57.1 2. Cayer also pag. 24 citeth the same place but contrarieth the Frier saying that it is not a prayer for the dead but a lamentation that he maketh because that in those daies in Israel they prayed not for the dead The fire of Helie is content to say only that this passage doth not condemne Purgatory Pag. 66. Thus doe these our masters agree among themselus but in the third Chapter we haue shewed that the Frier falsifieth this place and that the same quite quencheth Purgatory 9 Nowe followeth the passage which all the 3 Doctors make vse of whereof they forme a mightie Bulwarke It is in the 2. of the Machabes the 12. where say they Iudas sent 12 thousand drachmes of silver to Hierusalem to be offered in sacrifice for the dead Hereto we answer 1. They falsifie the place The Frier pag. 10. 2. The book is not Canonicall 3. Were it Canonical yet maketh it nothing for Purgatory 4. They sinne against the naturall principles of the question For we never dispute against any but by the principles and autorities that we receaue Men dispute not with Iewes by the autoritie of the new Testament neither will the Gentils disputing against the Christians produce the testimony of Hesiods Theogony This S. Augustine knowing in his question against Maximine saith in his third booke and 14. Chapter that he will vse the Scriptures non quorumcunque prop●ijs sed vtrique communibus Not proper to such or to such but cōmon to both Now let vs returne over the three first points First the falsification is proued by reading over the place This it is Iudas sent to Hierusalem the summe of twelue thousand drachmes of silver to offer sacrifises for the sinne hee saith for the sinne not as the Frier saith for the dead Now what these wordes for the sinne doth signifie shall hereafter appeare That the book is not Canonicall we haue infinite proofes 1. First these books are not in the Hebrewe 2. Iesus Christ and his Apostles whoe vpon every occasion did alleage the passages of the old Testament never named any of these bookes neither out of them cited any passage 3. The Autor himselfe cap. 2. v. 19. saith that his purpose is to abridge the fiue bookes of Iason the Cirinean into one booke Now if Iasons bookes were not Canonicall how can the abstract of them be Canonicall If Trogus or Dyon bee prophane bookes how can Iustine or Xiphiline be sacred S. Paule 2. Tim. 3.16 saith All Scripture is given by inspiration of God But what inspiration is it to say the same that another in a prophane booke hath spoken and only to abridge his words What more The Autor doubting whether he had said well toward the ende concludeth thus If I haue said well and as it appertaineth to the history it is as much as I desire Are the motions of the spirit of God so insensible or doubtfull as to leaue the mind in suspense and vncertaine concerning the excellency of such things as it hath suggested a little after hee excuseth the simplicitie of his stile Will God who hath no interest to be beleeued whose naked words doe farre exceed the most polished words of man excuse the poverty of his owne phrase Or shall not hee that made the tongue haue eloquence enough yes for hee inspireth his servants with so much eloquence as he thinketh good neither is it for vs either to distast it or to bring excuses But in the reading of these

I knowe that thou wilt answer it is to the ende the deceased may obtaine rest and find his iudge favourable thou weenest that thou must weepe for these matters but seest thou not that even in the same thou dost wrong him For considering that thou thinkest he is gon into the flowred fields why dost thou yet stir vp great stormes against him Againe in his 70. hom ad populum Antiochenum speaking of the funerals and the duty that we performe to the dead with torches and hymnes he saith What is the meaning of these flaming lamps No other but that we convey the Champions after the combat ended and these hymnes but that in them we glorifie God and giue him thankes that he hath crowned the dead and freed him frō all sorrowes that he now keepeth him about him hauing taken from him all vncertainties all which are actions of ioy Hee hath almost the same words in the moralitie of his fourth homily on the Hebrewes Both there and in his third homily on the Philippians hee gathereth that the duties that wee performe to the dead do testifie that their soules are in rest for the people say Convertere anima mea in requiem My soule returne into thy rest Againe in his 32. homily vpon Matthew Teares and lamentations beseeme the enemy not thee that goest to rest surely Death is a quiet hauen from all troubles Againe There is the spirituall bride bed and coelestiall And he saith that after death there is no more sorrow To bee briefe In Nilus B●shop of Thessalonica we haue an expresse book against Purgatory which is an Apology for the Greeke Churches wherein they saie that this temporall fire was cōdemned in the fifth Councel as also to this day the Churches of the Greeks and Russians the Abissines and the Armenians knowe not what this Imaginary fire meaneth There also the Greeke Churches do protest that S. Chrysostome never beleeved any such matter nether any of their ancient Doctors whereof we doe gather that some places of this doctour which seeme to make for Purgatory either must bee vnderstoode of an other kind of Purgatory such as was the purging fire of Origen and Ambrose which shall be spoken of hereafter or els that those passages are corruptly inserted and suggested Tunc est tentatio finiēda quando finitur pugna tunc est finienda pugna quando post hanc vitam succedet secura victoria paulo post milites Christi labori osa peregrinatione trāsacta regnant felices in patria Illis omnia remissa sunt delicta nihil ob delicta puni●is for likewise in the coūsell of Florence where the Greekes armed them selues with the auctority of their Doctours the Latins would not haue forborne to bring in these passages to convince them Prosper in his first book of Contemplatiue life cap. 1. saith Temptation shall end when the Combat is ended and the Combut shall end when after this life an assured victory shall succeed Againe soone after he saith The souldiours of Iesus Christ after they haue finished their laborious pilgrimage do raigne happyly in their Countrey Procopius vpon Exodus To those who by faith are entred into the number of their confederates and brethren and haue beene made partakers of the divine nature by the participation of the holy Ghost all their sinnes are pardoned they haue received no punishmēt for their offences Epiphanius in his second book of heresies heresie 39 which is the same of the Catares and Novatians seemeth to haue taken a smatch in the Confutatiō of Purgatory where he saith In the age to come after a mans death there is no more helpe by fasting no more vocation of pennance no more exhibition of Almes hee also saith It is as the corne that swelleth not after it is reaped neither can be spoiled with the winde Finally he cōcludeth The Garners are sealed vp the time is past the combat is finished the lists are voided and the Garlands are given Now saith hee all this is finished at the departure out of the body after which departure our adversaries do impose grievous penances and augment the difficulty of the fight and torments and doe deferre the giuing of the Crownes vntill the comming out of Purgatory that is to say many hundreds and thousands of yeares after death Arnobius in his second book against the gentils saith that Plato after this life hath set downe Rivers of fire in quibus animas asseverat volui mergi exuri where the soules are tossed plunged and burned But himselfe contrarywise doth holde that the souls out of the bodies can endure no sorrow Quis hominum non videt quod sit immortale quod simplex nullū posse dolorem admittere Wherein albeit he erreth not yet doeth it sufficiently shewe that hee beleeveth not that the soules without bodies can after this life bee cast into a fire Note also that throughout all antiquity wee finde no mention of buls of fetching of soules out of Purgatory of Indulgences for the dead aulters and of fraternities that haue priviledge to fetch a soule out of Purgatory As this is but lately invēted and as old age encreaseth in covetousnesse so hate Avarice beene more inventiue in this declining old age of the world for it is credible that the Apostles and their first successours omitted the fetching of foules out of this fire by indulgences for want either of knowledge either of abilitie either else of good will Also that togither with their greatnesse and riches skill spirituall power pietie and charitie haue growne vp in the Bishops of Rome That the Doctours in the primitiue Church in this matter had their errors which the Church of Rome reiecteth namely in this that for the most part they beleeved that the soules are detained in dennes or corners vntil the day of iudgmēt whereof neverthelesse it appeareth that they knew not Purgatory Irineus toward the end of his fourth and last booke condemneth two opinions the one that hell is in the world the other that the soule which hee calleth the inward man comming out of the body ascended into the region that is aboue the heauens Then he addeth For sith our Lord went into the middest of the shadow of death where the soules of the dead remained and is since corporally risen againe and after his resurrection was receaued on high It is evident therefore that the soules of his disciples for whom Iesus Christ acted and suffered these things shall also goe into an invisible place to them appointed by God where they shall remaine vntil the resurrection afterward being perfectly that is corporally raised as Iesus Christ was they shall appeare in the presence of God for no disciple is aboue his master c. In summe his meaning is that herein the condition of the faithfull deceased shall bee conformable to that of Iesus Christ whose soule came not into the presence of God before his resurrection but was in darknesse and

their Purgatory there vpon haue they spent at the least three quarters of their allegations Now as concerning this praier for the dead the truth is that the Apostles in the celebration of the Lords Supper retained the institution of Iesus Christ and Pope Gregorie hath before testified vnto vs that to that Institution that is set downe in the holy Gospell they added only the Lords praier which argueth an vntruth in Chrysostome who saith that the Commemoration of the dead in the Eucharist is an Apostolicall tradition Soone after Martyrdome encreasing for the better encouragement of the Christians they brought in a custome in the celebration of the sacrament to name the Martyrs with the Prophets and Apostles and in everie Church they had a list or double tables called Diptiches wherin were writ ten the names of all such deceased as were to be mentioned in Commemoration and so far there was no harme The custome encreasing the parents and friends of the deceased beganne to giue almes vpon the day of the Cōmemoration of the deceased The almes togither with the commemorations they called oblations of the dead also sacrifices for the dead as we may see in the sixt epistle of the third book of S. Cyprian speaking of the Martyrs deceased in prison Celebrentur à nobis oblationes et Sacrificia in Commemorationem eorum Let vs celebrate sacrifices and oblations in commemoration of them Likewise in the fifth Epistle of his fourth booke speaking of Laurence Heb. 13.16 Phil 4 18. Celerine and Ignatius Martyrs Sacrificia pro eis offerimus quoties Martyrum passiones dies Aniuersariae Commemoratione celebramus That is to say We doe offer sacrifice for them alwaies and so often as from yeare to yeare we doe celebrate the daies and passions of the Martyrs In summe this is it The almes called in the Scripture sacrifices were offered for the dead that is to say in remembrance of them and in their steed as if the dead gaue them Thus in the eight booke of the Institutions of Clement cap. 18. The Bishop or minister prayeth We doe offer vnto thee for all those that haue pleased thee from the beginning of the world for the Saints Patriarkes Prophets righteous men Apostles Martyrs c. For such doth the Church of Rome hold that wee ought not to pray or to offer That these oblations and sacrifices were almes it appeareth by two Canons Vases Can. qui oblationes can Clerici one of the Councell of Vases the other of the Councell of Agatha Which are in Can. 13. quest 2 The Councell of Vases saith thus Can. Qui oblatione can clerici Such as detaine the oblations of the dead are slack in bringing them to the Churches are to be cut of from the Church as Infidels because they doe depriue the faithfull of the accomplishment of their vowes and the poore of their food and substance That of Agatha condemneth those that detaine the oblations of their deceased parents as murderers of the poore Burchard in his fifth booke alleageth many examples Nowe because part of these offerings were imployed in the Communion of the holy supper S. Cyprian in his sermon of Almes complaineth that the rich offering nothing yet came to take part of the sacrifices offered by the poore Domini cum sine sacrificio venis partem de sacrificio quod pau per obtulit sumis Now that this nomination of the dead in the administratiō of the sacrament tended not to fetch him out of Purgatory it appeareth evē by the same that our adversaries alleage out of Cyprian namely for that hee would not permit any nomination of of a certaine deceased person who had charged a clarke with a tutorship for surely it had beene excessiue inhumanitie to depriue a soule tormented in fire from ordinary reliefe for so slight an offence and where it was rather want of consideration then of piety as also to hold such a one for that sinne to be dāned were a rash and precipitat iudgement It was therefore a deprivation of honour among the living not a prohibition from succouring of the soule of the deceased And yet in all this there is no harme In those daies sprang vp the error of the receptacles of soules and of the fire of the last iudgemēt that should purge even the Virgin Mary and the Apostles began to take footing in the church Hereby mēs minds growing into feare and being perplexed concerning the estate of the dead prayers for the succor of the dead soone after came to bee adioined to the oblations sacrifices and almes And thus errour begat abuse which sprang from the loue of friends yet without any conceit of Purgatory and without any foresight of such abuses as might ensue and did befall in the daies of Gregory Bishop of Rome who lived in the yeare of Iesus Christ six hundred For then learning being smothered by the inundation of the barbarous nations the Gothes the Hunnes the French the Vandales c. And these lights of the primitiue Church extinct whiles there were no more Basils Cyprians or Augustins c. The divell taking his time and making vse of the covetise of the Clergie cosened the world with visions and aparitions of soules returning from Purgatory as we see in Gregories dialogues and Beda his workes who made report of a soul that appeared musled in a cloke of fire of an other that had beene a master of the bathes and being there in Purgatory offered to pull of a mans hose They also tell vs a fable of one Nocholas who getting forth of Purgatory by a hole that is in Ireland reported that hee had seene soules some broiled some fried get-some roasted c. Gregory in the fourth of his dialogues cap. 41. putteth to him selfe this question Quid hoc est quaeso quod in his extremis temporibus tam multa de animabus clarescunt quae ante latuerant And ordinarily these souls in their appearance shewed the cause of their tormēt ether that they had not paid the Church what they ought or had vowed and so entreated the living to satisfie for them or that they had withstood the Bishop of Rome c. Then began these great donations to the Church especially after the stations and Indulgences of Rome were added which are of the topgallant the last supream top of all Babylon Against this progresse of abuse what better remedy then to reduce the people to the spring head which is the holy Scripture And to say as Iesus Christ said to the Saduces Mat. 22. You erre not knowing the scriptures but from the beginning it was not so For throughout the old Testament that is for the full space of foure hundred yeares there was no prayer either for the dead or to fetch any soule out of Purgatory neither in the daies of Iesus Christ or his Apostles nor of a long time after Thus shall we attribute the glory to God to