their Prayers and thereby make God himself our Debtour for he that giveth to the Poor lendeth to the Lord. Lastly The Champions for Popery alledge for Purgatory 1 Pet. 3.19 20. By which also he went and preached to the Spirits in prison by which they undrstand the Descent of Christ into Purgatory to loose some Souls there from their Torments But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which relates to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit that is set down just before it by which Spirit in Noah who is called a Preacher of Righteousness Christ Jesus is said to Preach to the Generation of Men immediately before the Floud whose Souls are now shut up in Hell for their Disobedience For this Preaching was not performed by an immediate act of the Son of God as if he personally had appeared on Earth and actually Preached to the Old World but he did it by the Ministry of a Prophet for to doe any thing by another that is not able to perform it without him as much demonstrates the existence of the principal cause as if he did it of himself without any intervening instrument But if Purgatory be intended in these words we must be mightily mistaken in our conceptions about a future state then the days that follow after Death do afford opportunities of obtaining a better Life then may Men rise from a life of torments to a life of joy whereas the Angels had one Instant either to stand or fall eternally what that Instant was to them that this Life is to us for after Death immediately follows Judgment the Soul at its departure from the Body knows its doom and what it must trust to for ever The Schoolmen labour all they can to destroy the true Belief of Christians in this matter and have the face to propose it as a matter of Faith that Christ delivered the Souls of the Saints from the very suburbs of Hell which they call Limbus of the Fathers It is pity but the wits of these Men had been better employed than in building such Castles in the Air or in filling Mens thoughts with imaginary Ideas of strange places in the other World that have no foundation in Scripture which is our surest guide against all such Notional wandrings opens our eyes to perceive the reality of things and clears the brain not onely from Darkness but form false and useless Light especially the Ignis fatuus of Purgatory which serves onely to mislead Men out of the way and so lose them in the bogs or woods of perpetual errour which teaches us to believe quite otherwise than the Papists do for such as these are the instructions of the Holy Spirit Joh. 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life he shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life Mat. 18.8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands and two feet to be cast into everlasting fire Mat. 19.29 And every one that hath forsaken houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my names sake shall receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life Mat. 25.46 And these shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life everlasting In the sixteeth Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel from the nineteenth to the one and thirtieth Verse we reade how the Rich Man was cast into Torments and the Poor Man lodged in Abraham's Bosome between the places of both these Men there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Wide Gulph never to be passed insomuch that Dives did despair of any relief out of his misery when the gift of a drop of water to cool his tongue would not be granted him If we can assent to what the Papists say they have paved a large Caus-way over this wide Gulph and have opened a very easie passage from a life of torments to that of eternal happiness For by virtue of some prayers oblations and indulgences they have made the way broad to Heaven and narrow to Hell a Man that hath money in his pocket cannot be damned and a Camel may as soon pass through the eye of a needle as a poor Man be saved But granting that the written word of God hath nothing of Purgatory in it the Romanists will tell you that Tradition will defend them in the belief thereof which word Tradition they are wont to alledge to give a colour to most of their present innovations Wherefore in the second place I am to shew how they are mistaken in this case of Tradition also and to declare for what reasons the Fiction of Purgatory was first set on foot The Traditions we receive as good and authentick are the Doctrines which we now reade in the holy Scriptures but I have proved Purgatory to be none of these therefore those of the Romish Perswasion must mean some other Tradition that is not to be found written in the word of God But here we ought to observe that the Scripture in this case aswell as in all others is the onely rule of Faith therefore Traditions Councils and Fathers are onely to be used as helps to understand the Scripture better but not to be entertained as any rule of Faith in which case we are bound to be of the Apostle's mind If I or an Angel from Heaven preach any other doctrine than that which we have delivered let him he accursed For this reason we cannot receive those Doctrines for truth which the Church of Rome presses upon our Belief upon the account of Tradition especially when we consider with what strategems of force and fraud this Church hath laboured to keep the People in ignorance for the sake of her New Doctrines that they may be swallowed the more glibly which is an artifice to enslave Mankind by disabling them either to see or know what she is a-doing whereas if we would keep up the honour and privilege of Humane nature if we would preserve our Bibles from being sequestred into Hucksters hands if we have any regard to God's pure and undefiled Religion we must resolve against the Novelties of Popery For in the true Religion there is nothing which the reason of Mankind can challenge wherein the judgments of Men may not have so good an account as to receive full and ample satisfaction And to speak the truth I do not understand that there is among Protestants what more is to be found among the Papists is accommodated to serve some bye-ends and purposes For this reason a great Abbat in the Roman Church was wont to say that he did greatly suspect his Religion must needs fail being not built upon so firm a Rock as was supposed because there was so little Ground for many Tenents of it in the Word of God I may add that there is
as little in the principles of God's Creation or in that which we call Natural Religion If this be so I wonder with what face they can still stand up for Purgatory or imagine such a state in which the Souls of Men are for a time shut up untill they are set at liberty by the Prayers of the Living or a Pope's Indulgence but to justifie themselves in this unpardonable abuse of the Christian Religion they tell us that some Christians in Old Time did make use of Prayers and Commemorations for those who died in the true Faith of our Saviour Jesus Christ Now the question is whether the Suppplicants that used this kind of Devotion intended by these means to obtain a pardon for the Criminals that were condemned to this Prison The right understanding of this Custome will put an end to the Controversie and who can better inform us of their meaning than they themselves or those that lived in the same Age with them amongst whom may be reckoned Dionysius the Areopagite who treats particularly of the Rites used in their Burials of the Death this Authour tells us that the Bishop was wont in the midst of the Congregation to make a Prayer of Thanksgiving unto God for his restraining the power of the Devil over Mankind as also for his mercifull admittance of sincere Penitents into his Grace and Favour And farther prays that God would place them in the Land of the Living seat them in Abraham's Bosome where now they rest from their Labours here they may be received into a place of Light Peace and Joy everlasting this was the end of their Prayers for those that Rest in the Lord. Now lest by mistake we should infer from hence as some have done that the Souls of good Men departed this Life are not yet in Paradise but remain for some time in a condition of darkness loss and pain there to be prepared for Heaven by certain Purgations and thence to be discharged by the satisfactions and prayers of the Living the same excellent Write hath mentioned onely two divisions of the Dead of those that have lived well and of those that have lived ill whereas the upholders of Purgatory have lodged them in three distinct Apartments But the Primitive Church knew but two places of entertainment for the Dead after this Life Heaven and Hell the first for good the latter for evil Men one for the Believer the other for the Infidel Heaven is for him whose sins are remitted and Hell is for him whose sins are retained Indeed some Ancient Doctours did seem to doubt what that place was which the Souls of Men did abide in till they should be reunited to their Bodies in the Resurrection supposing for a while they lay under the Altars But afterwards the Church of Rome found it more profitable to build for them this place of Purgatory a place wherein she pretends the Souls of Men are cleansed by Burning and made fit for Heaven For as soon as the World was put into a great Fright about Purgatory then came in the sale of Indulgences which the subtile Priest put off for securities against the vain fears and dangers to be met withall in this place this indeed is a Doctrine of good advantage to the Churh of Rome but most disgracefull to the Christian Religion for what can be more so than to defraud Christ himself of the Title and Merit which he ever had of being The onely Redeemer of Mankind as if he had not by his Sacrifice on the Cross fully satisfied the Divine Justice but that this great work was to be done by Pope's Bulls Indulgences and Masses But for all this we will oblige our selves to believe the Roman Confessours if they can from Scripture Reason or untainted Tradition shew us where God hath told Men that he is pleased with these things and is resolved to accept of them instead of a good and Christian Life For this was always the Faith of the Primitive Church that the state and condition of a Man into which he passeth after Death shall never be changed this I could prove out of Justin Martyr ad Orthodoxos and out of St Cyprian ad Demetrianum but my Design is not to fill this brief Discourse with Quotations and indeed there is no necessity for it because we have Scripture the common sense of Mankind and the Faith of the best and purest Ages on our side Wherefore in the third place I will shew what our Belief ought to be in this matter We all know very well that we are to believe as the Scripture directs and herein we are taught that Heaven and Hell are fixed for the two eternal states of good and bad Men who if after this Life they had any hopes of gaining the first or escaping the latter by the Prayers or the Gifts of their surviving Friends this expectation would in a great measure frustrate the intend of Christ's coming into the World which was to teach Men how in this present life they must work our their Salvation how through patient continuance in well-doing they must here be brought to goodness and real vertue the practice whereof in all probability would be quite laid aside if they should depend upon such foolish hopes as these are If we do but consider the reason of those promises and threatnings which God makes use of in Scripture to reclaim the Disobedient we must be convinced that there can be no such place as Purgatory For promises and threatnings are made use of in Scripture to work upon our hopes and fears two the most prevailing passions of the mind we have the promise of present assistance to encourage our endeavours in a vertuous life and to make this work the more easie we have the assurance of a future reward Whereas Religion would be thought in its strictest duties to be a burthen too heavy for Men to bear if so be they should once entertain the hopes of getting Heaven by such cheap and easie methods as the Church of Rome prescribes persons that are her Proselytes will not be wrought upon by that fear which is the proper product of the threatnings of the Gospel when the most dreadfull condition that can be feared hereafter may be avoyded as they think by the charmes of Masses or some legacy to the Church But these are cunningly devised Fables which the Scripture warns us of which Gospel because of the terrours of it is said to be the mighty power of God to salvation for great fear makes difficulties easie it awakens all our powers and quickens all our motions it turns our feet into wings and enables Men to doe many things with ease which without so strong a motive they would never be perswaded to attempt The lively apprehension of the danger of their Souls and the sad issues of a wicked life is enough to make the most profane Man stop his course it will incite him to summon all his powers to resist so
to whom they make more Prayers than to our Saviour himself although her Name be not mentioned in all the Epistles of the Apostles although Christ himself as foreseeing the degeneracy of the Church in this thing did ever restrain all extravagant imaginations of honour due to her yet the adoration of her is the most considerable part od their Religion But why should a Man so prostitute himself as to Worship those I am sure God would not have me Worship for he would not have us adore any Creature as the Apostle argues Col. 2.18 it is but a shew of humility to worship Angels who are placed in the highest order of Creatures and if they are not to be Worshipped sure none below them are and God hath declared there is but one supreme self-existent Being and one Mediatour between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus IV. They withhold the use of Scripture from the People because they say Knowledge of the very Oracles of God will make them contentious and disobedient to Authority if this be true then the blame of all this must be laid upon our blessed Saviour for revealing such a Doctrine to the World as this is and thereby we should condemn the Apostles for making known such a Doctrine to Men in a Tongue they understand but I suppose the Papists are not willing to lay all the miscarriages of the World upon Christ and his Apostles Although Men may abuse the Knowledge of the Scripture yet the abuse of a thing that is usefull was never accounted a sufficient reason for the taking it away therefore Men are not to be hindred from the Knowledge of the Scriptures for fear they should become proud or rebellious for this would be as if one should put out a Man's eyes that he might the better follow him or that he might not loose his way for there is nothing in the whole Doctrine of our blessed Saviour which is unfit for any Man to know but what is plainly designed to promote holiness and the practice of a good life the Romanists do indeed pretend that the unity and peace of the Church cannot be maintained unless the People be kept in ignorance then the mischief will be that for the end of keeping Peace and Unity in the Church Church and Christian will be both lost which would be as if a Prince should knock all his Subjects on the Head to keep them quiet 'T is true this would be an effectual way to procure it but by these means he must lose his Kingdom and make himself no Prince into the bargain 'T is no doubt but if Men were ignorant enough they would be quiet but then the consequences of it would be that they would cease to be Men. Lastly They frustrate the effects of real Religion by their Pretences to extraordinary Power and Privileges that is they pretend to make that lawfull which is unlawfull Bellarmine saith that the Pope may declare vice to be vertue and vertue vice by this practice they attempt to change the reason of things which all Mankind agree to be unalterable By this pretended Power they can turn attrition into contrition that is they can make such a consternation of mind as fell upon Judas when he went and hanged himself to be contrition by the Priest's Absolution they can make bodily Pennance to be of equal validity with an inward change of mind and true Repentance they pretend they can produce by I know not what magical force strange spiritual effects by vertue of Holy Water and the Cross they are also much puff't up with a Power they assume of Absolving Men from solemn Oaths and Obligations they boast much of the Efficacy of Indulgences for the pardon of sin and for the delivery of Souls out of Purgatory by which Invention they detract from the efficacy of God's Grace as if it were not sufficient to prepare us for and at last to bring us to Heaven unless we pass through this imaginary Purgation after Death by which also they themselves are deceived whilst they couple Prayer for the Dead and Purgatory together as if the one did necessarily suppose or imply the other But they do not for though the sins of the Faithfull be privately and particularly forgiven at the day of Death yet the publick promulgation of their pardon is to come at the day of Judgment Christians then may be allowed to Pray for this consummation of Blessedness when the Body shall be reunited to the Soul so we pray as often as we say Thy Kingdom come or come Lord Jesus come quickly this is far enough from being a Prayer to deliver them out of Purgatory besides the Roman Church is not able to produce any one Prayer publick or private nor one Indulgence for the delivery of any one Soul out of Purgatory in all the Primitive times or out of their own ancient Missals or Records All these things before mentioned are not to be justified but thus the Papists have endeavoured to spoil the best Religion that ever was made known unto Men. Whereas the Christian Religion as it is professed in the Reformed Church is quite another thing for it doth neither persecute nor hold any principles of faction or disturbance but onely those of peace and obedience to the Laws of God and Man if there be any agitatours of Mischief and Treason it is the fault of particular Parties and not to be charged upon the Reformed Church which Church holds the Worship of God and all other offices of Religion to be performed in the Vulgar Tongue so that Knowledge may be thereby had and promoted which Knowledge of Religion if any Man doth abuse for the ends of Pride Rebellion or Heresie he doth it at his own peril and God will judge him for it But St. Paul is so far from allowing any Service to God in an unknown Tongue that he calls it a piece of madness 1 Cor. 14.23 If the whole church be come together into one place and all speak with divers tongues and there come in the unlearned will not they say that you are mad that is they may justly say so Now a Man would wonder that any society of Men retaining the Name of Christians should zealously press that to be necessary for the Christian Church which St. Paul hath said to be a piece of madness The same Reformed Church owns the free use of the Scriptures both in publick and private calls upon Men as our Saviour did to search them for these make the man of God perfect and do richly furnish him for every good work and by their help we are able to render a reason of the hope that is in us We do declare that the Preachers of the Church ought not to take away the Key of Knowledge from the People as our Saviour charges the Pharisees or as St. Augustine saith They do not command Faith in Men upon peril of Damnation to shew their superiority but they appear as Officers to