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A39122
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A Christian duty composed by B. Bernard Francis.
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Bernard, Francis, fl. 1684.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing E3949A; ESTC R40567
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248,711
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323
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goods works the Angells will rejoyce upon it in heaven the Faithfull will be edifyd upon earth Devills will rage for envy in hell The eternal Father will adopt you for his child the Son will make you one of his members the holy Ghost will dwell in you as in his Temple The B. Trinity will adorne you with a triple Crown they will make you happy by Beatifical Vision by perfect Fruition and by possession of eternal Goods Amen DISCOURS XLVIII of Purgatory 1. Though there be but one only Church in the world yet this may be divided into three Parts or Orders which according to their divers conditions beare different names and Titles That which reignes with God in Heaven and happily passed from the Combate to the Victory and from Victory to Tryumph is called the Tryumphant Church That which fights yet upon Earth and environed with Devills and with Sinners labours to vanquish the one and to convert the other is called Militant And that which Expiates its sins in the flames of Purgatory and satisfys the justice of God by the greatness of its paines is called Suffrante Of this I shal now treat and that the Living and the Dead may reap profit by this Discours I divide it into two Parts In the first I will shew that there is a Purgatory in which souls do suffer In the second we will see by what means we may and ought to help those poor soules 2. Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur Blessed are they who dye in our Lord who die so perfect in Faith and Charity who depart Apoc. 14. 13. hence so purged by true and entire Penance that they are free from all spot of sin and not lyable to any punishment due to it But they that are not so pure and clean as so many are not must necessarily feel the severity of Gods justice which leaves no sin unpunished and must be purged before they can be blessed as Scriptures Fathers and reason make evident to every vnbyassed understanding In the second Book of the Machabees we read that Iudas Machabeus that valiant Champion who was high Priest or chief Bishop of the Church and Defender of the true Faith and Religion sent 12. thousand Drachmes to Hierusalem that sacrifice might be offered for the Dead And the Authour of the book concludes It is a holy and salutary cogitation to pray for the dead that they may be delivered from their sins And this was the general practise of the Church as appears by their set form of Office for the Dead in their book Mahzor translated and set forth by Bishop Genebrard Munster and Fagius in Annot upon 14. of Deut Whitaker lib. 1. cont Dureum foâ— 81. 1. Ep. c. 4. This custome is yet observed by the Iews which is so evident that Protestants themselves confess it S. Peter in the new Testament furnishes us with a strong proof of Purgatory in the third chapter of his first Epistle He teaches us that the Son of God descended and Preached to them that were in prison who had been incredulous sometime in the days of Noah This passage connot be applyd to the Fathers that were detain'd in Limbo nor to the damned that were lockt up in hell For the first never were incrudulous as were those to whom the Son of God did speak The second deserv'd not that IESUS CHRIST should preach or Evangelize as the text says good news to them or should mitigate their torments by the happiness of his presence Since according to the Scripture in hell there is no redemption It remaines then that He speaks of the Souls in Purgatory and of those particularly that gave not credit to the preaching of Noah who nevertheless being moved by the deluge and by the present perill called upon God and converted themselves to him by penance But to Expiate the paines due to their sins were doom'd to prison and to punishment until the comming of the Redeemer who preached to them the grace of Redemption drew them out of prison and led them with Him into Heaven S Paul says That he who upon the foundation of faith makes a building 1. cor 3. 12. of Gold silver and precious stones That is of solid and perfect vertues He shal receive reward but he that hath made a building of wood hay stubble that is of imperfections or venial sins Aug. in Psal 37. Psal 6 shal be saved but by fire S. Austin explicates of Purgatory this text and cites moreover to the same purpose these words of David Lord reprove me not in your fury and correct me not in your anger Lord says David according to the explication of Saint Austin permit me not to be of the number of those to whom you will say Go ye accursed into Eternal fire and purify me in this life so that I may not need to be purged by the fire that corrects those lib. de Monog c. 10. who shal be saved Tertullian in the second age of the Church speaking of the devotions of Widdows of his time says that every year on the anniversary of their husbands death they made offerings for them and that they prayed God to give them refreshment they believed then that they were in paines We might alledge many other ancient Fathers But there is no need to cite them since lib. 3. Institut c. 5. n. 10. Calvin himself confesseth that the holy Fathers who lived a 1300 years before his time prayed for the Dead and that which he answers to this is the ancient Fathers were men who were deceived as if he were an Angel or rather a God that could not Erre But if we should have nither Scripture nor Tradition for this Verity yet common sense would teach it For let us suppose that there is a man as there may be who having committed blasphemies murders adulteries and other sins in great number and being upon his death-bed repents converts himself to God and dyes whither shal his soul go Not to hell for God never reiects a contrite and humbled heart and He hath promised mercy to all that shal conuert themselves by true and sincere penance Shal he go strait to heauen and as strait as one that hath serued God well and kept his commandements all his life what appearance of it and where would be the verity of this word of S. Paul a man shal reap that which he hath sown where would be Gal. 6. Psal 61 Rom. 2. 6. Apoc. 22 Matt. 16. the truth of this which the Royal Prophet the Apostle the Evangelist and our Saviour himself hath sayd God will render to every one according to his workes We need not but consider what is God and what is sin to avow a Purgatory in which an imperfect soul is purifyd before she may or would be pesented to God who is Purity it self 3. Wherefore a soul in Purgatory murmures not she complains not of too much rigour on the contrary she embraces
Divinity You know that Divinity acknowledgeth and reverenceth in God three principal Perfections Power Wisdom Goodness You know that the Scriptures and the Fathers doe attribute to each one of these Divine Persons one of these Perfections tho' all three be common to them all Omnipotence to the Father because He is the source and origin of Divinity Wisdom to the Son because He is begotten by the way of understanding and of knowledg Goodness to the Holy Ghost because He is produced by the way of Will and Love These are three Divine Persons which inseperably and indivisibly applyd themselves to the Creation to the Conservation and to the Government of the Univers These are the three fingers of God as the Prophet I say calls them who sustaine conserve and govern the world Those are their three infinite Perfections which are apply'd unto this worke For if we consider the matter out of which the World was drawn we shal admire an infinite Power If we consider the manner in which the World is governed we shal acknowledge an incomprehensible Wisdom If we consider the End to which this World is designed we shal see and love an ineffable Goodness 4. First we shal admire an infinite Power For if there were so Excellent a workman that could make a Cup of gold of a lumpe of silver he would be admired but if he should make a golden Cup of a mass of lead he would be a workman far more Excellent and yet more if he should make it of a barre of Iron and yet more if he made it of a piece of wood but if he made it of a grain of sand he would pass for a demy God and we would say that his power is almost infinite Ought he not than to be God indeed and to have a power entirely infinite for to make not a Cup of gold but Heaven and Earth Angells and men and all the other Creatures and to make them of nothing as our God did whom we confess in this Article to be the Creatour of Heaven and Earth 5. If his Divinity and his infinite Omnipotencie appeare so Clearly in the matter of which he made the world his Divinity and his incomprehensible Wisdom appears yet more in the manner by which he governs it This Wisdom say I shines so brightly in the conduct of the Univers that we need not but to open our Eyes for to see it as clear as the day For we see that the Heavens turne about us in so regular so constant and so unvariable an order that the seasons of the year serve us by quarters and that they succeed one another with a vicissitude so proportioned to our life We see that the animalls that have not judgement and also that the plants which have not sense performe all their functions with so much industry and perfection and commodity for our service as if they had judgment All this makes us to conclude that there must be in the Univers a Sovereign Wisdome a divine Spirit most intelligent and most provident who rules governs and directs all these things and who by an ineffable Goodness obliges them to serve us 6. For God created all these things for us He governs them all for us and to shew us this his admirable Goodness He created man the last of all as the End to which He referred his works For the end is always the first and the principall in the intention of the Workman and the last in the Execution of the worke And we experience to our great profit that they all tend unto this End and that they conspire to serve and intertaine us some to beare us others to nourish cloath cure and reioyce us T is then for you ô man that the heavens move that starrs glitter that fire warms that air refreshes that rivers run that the earth produces fruits that animalls live and labor and it is for you in fine that God conserves and employs all these Creatures when you thinke least of it when you recreate when you sleep when you injure and offend him He then thinkes on you He acts for you and makes all Nature to labor and sweat for you He says to you not by word but by work you disoblige me extremely you commit sin which displeaseth me infinitely But nevertheless take the presents which I make you taste and see that I am a sweet Lord. For is it not to be very sweet to give you so many sweetnesses and dainties in return to so many bitternesses which you present me daily Ha! we cease not to offend him and He ceases not to caress us what admirable Goodness should we not be monsters of ingratitude and abortives of nature if our hearts be not softened and gained by so many favours 7. Moreover we must note that we are obliged to God for all the good He hath don to other creatures When a Father employes a Tayler nourishes him payes him for his labor gives him stuff to make a robe for his daughter 't is not the robe that is obliged to him and if also the robe should have sense and understanding it would not be much obligd to thanke him since he hath not don all this to the robe for love of the robe but for love of his daughter 't is the daughter then that hath the obligation and who ought to thank her father for it so we are oblig'd to God for all the beauty goodness qualities and proprieties that He hath distributed among his creatures becaus 't is not for them but for us that He hath given them all these qualities and perfections to the end we may thank him prayse him love him serve him and keep his commandements He gave them the Countries of Nations Says the Royal Prophet and Psal 104. 44. they possêssed the labours of people that they might keep his justifications and seek his law Ô how ill does he that serves not God! ô what injustice does he commit against his Creatour T is an insupportable ingratitude not to acknowledg honor and love such a Benefactor 8. If you lett a poor Cottage to your neighbor you will that he pay you rent for it and if he should fail you would cry out against him How comes it then says S. Chrisostome that you pay not the tribute of thanks to your great God that you hom 12. ad Rom. serve him not cordially who hath placed you in this world in this glorious Pallace which He built and which wholy appertains to him If you have a Vineyard which you neither made nor planted nor cultivated but have received it by inheritance letting it to a farmer you will have the half or the thirds of the fruits of it though that the farmer be poor and hath many Children God hath lett you a Vineyard or field to farme and how vouchsafe you not to pay him not only not the fourth part of the revenew of it not also the tythe perhaps not the twentieth part