much as to say this sin is of that malignant and heinous nature that it justly deserves endless punishment and will never be pardoned II. Another is that of the 1 Cor. 3. They themselves shall be saved but so as by fire or but as through fire which fire he says must be the Fire of Purgatory We Answer that these words seem to allude to those of Zachar 13.9 where he saith I will bring the third part through fire and refine them as silver is refined which is a fair warning to men that the Doctrines they embrace and their practices according to them may be such as will bear the severest tryal that they may not be like wood hay and stubble which will not endure the fire for the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Particle of similitude and the whole phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is proverbial used in Scripture aswell as in other Authours to signifie a narrow escape out of a great danger just as St. Peter expresses it 1 Pet. 3.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so here it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall be saved with great difficulty so as through fire III. A Third place is that of 1 Cor. 15. concerning Baptism for the Dead here the Cardinal ventures very far even to the drawing of fire out of water the flames of Purgatory out of these washings Baptism for the Dead and Prayer for the Dead is the same thing in his sense though it be discordant to the harmony and scope of the whole Scripture For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture signifies to Wash or purify by Washing it must be rendred in the same sense here for as all Nations had their peculiar Rites of Burial so had the Jews who were used to wash the Carkasses of the Dead with warm water Camomile and dryed Roses being put into it This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or use of Baptisation was threefold The First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a washing from the pollution contracted by the touch of the dead Carkass The Second was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a washing of the dead Corpse its self as Tabitha was washed The Last was the Baptization in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in use onely among some misguided Christians for the Apostle undertook to convince the Corinthians of the truth of the Resurrection from their own foolish and erroneous Customs in effect telling them that their usage of Baptizing the living for the dead was vain and impertinent if there were no Resurrection for if the Dead rise not at all to what end were these Funeral Solemnities Why was there vicarium tale Baptisma as Tertullian calls it the manner whereof is thus described by Epiphanius When any Catechumenist dyed some living person being placed under the bed they came to the deceased Party and aked him whether he would be Baptized the Party under the bed answered that he would whereupon they immediately Baptized him for the dead a silly superstitious Action Yet from this Topick St. Paul proves a Resurrection to them as he did once the existence of the true God from an Inscription on an Altar in Athens to one that was unknown but Bellarmine would perswade us that by this washing they intended to afford their Friends some relief in Purgatory and he might with as much reason have told us that the Sea burns IV. The Fourth place is that of St. Matthew 5.25 Agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the Judge and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into prison verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Now if the Cardinal may be credited Purgatory is this Prison and the Prisoner shut up therein is in a condition to pay the uttermost farthing by the help of Prayers Masses and the Pope's Indulgence whereas all this is an Allegory whereby we are taught to reconcile our selves to God the great Judge of Heaven and Earth by leading a Godly Righteous and Sober life whilst we are in the Way or on this side the Grave for if we neglect our repentance and amendment of life in this our day before the night approaches wherein no man can work we run the hazard of being cast into a prison out of which there is no Redemption for the Text says We shall by no means come out thence till we have paid the uttermost farthing which will be never because we shall never be able to discharge this Debt We are infinitely beholding to the goodness and mercy of God who hath appointed his onely Begotten Son to be our Surety and to deliver us out of this Prison how justly then may the Saviour of the World be angry with Papists for pretending to cast simple people into I know not what Prison and to torture them with painted Fires in spight of that Redemption which he hath made for the whole World V. The Fifth place is that of Matth. 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgement and whosoever shall say to his Brother Raca shall be in danger of the Counsel but whosoever shall say thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell Fire The last onely of these sins Bellarmine observes shall be punished with Hell Fire consequently after this life the punishment of lesser sins will be in Purgatory But this is no true inference because after this life there will be no distinction of Courts of Justice as there was among the Jews in our Saviour's time then all Judicature shall appertain to Christ and his Apostle therefore this Text cannot be rightly understood without considering the words before and after it Now our Saviour in this Chapter was about to interpret the Law of Moses which the Jews thought they had fulfilled when they had not transgressed the Grammatical sense thereof this made them believe that the Sixth Commandment was not broken but by killing a Man nor the Seventh but by actually committing Adultery or Fornication whereas our Saviour forbids the inward Anger of a Man against his Brother without a cause the punishment whereof at the Day of Judgment shall be Hell Fire How Purgatory then should be maintained from these words I cannot imagine unless the Papists can make it out that as the Jews had divers Temporal Courts of Justice so God Almighty will have three distinct Courts of Justice hereafter and will inflict different punishments for Sin VI. The Sixth place is Luk. 16.9 Make ye friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Invocation of Saints the Papists say may be proved from this Text but I cannot see upon what grounds We are advised to make the Poor our Friends by Charity and by giving them some of our Riches that we may have in this life the benefit of
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
clearly perceive this to be the word of God than it doth those things which are self-evident and the conclusions logically deduced from them there is no reason therefore that any one should fear to acknowledge that assent to be also less certain notwithstanding it follows not upon this account that Faith is uncertain for That which arises not to the certainty of Science is not therefore uncertain for although that certainty which is called Moral be of an inferiour degree to Demonstration yet it is a true certainty leaves the mind satisfied and free from doubt But how can a Man be said to have a certainty greater than that of Science when he hath not that certainty of evidence from the Arguments upon which the matter is grounded It may be answered that no Man can deny but there may be just cause why a Man may adhere to the objects of his Faith more strongly than the Arguments brought for the truth thereof do require for when a Man is sufficiently perswaded by due reasons and arguments that what is propounded to him for Divine Revelation is indeed such this Man if he duly attends and seriously considers that it is God who speaks he will be wholly bent to yield obedience thereunto he will entertain the word of God with the highest veneration he will closely adhere to it and he will be fully resolved to suffer and renounce all things rather than withdraw his assent from those matters of Faith which are contained in it and confirmed by it From thence there arises in his mind a greater or at least a more effectual adherence to the Articles of his Faith than there is in Science for the mind so affected and disposed doth more affectionately embrace and more firmly hold that word of God than any thing else by what light soever it be propounded or by whatever strength of demonstration it be confirmed neither is there any knowledge which he doth so carefully retain nor is there any assent which he will suffer so hardly or with such difficulty to be forced from him which firmness of Faith and strong adherence of mind to the objects of it is not produced by the evidence thereof but by the great weight and moment of it for the mind being enlightned by the holy Spirit understands that any other speculative scientifical Doctrine doth little or nothing conduce to a happy and blessed life but that on This our everlasting happiness doth depend and that we cannot reject This without certain Ruine Therefore we ought to take heed that cunning Men do not deceive us that we do not hearken to the Teachers of New Doctrines which have no foundation in the Scripture their pretences to infallibility and demonstration in matters of Faith are false and unreasonable for they assume these great and unwarrantabe privileges onely to deceive the Ignorant and to obtrude fictitious articles of Faith upon Mankind Wherefore all that now remains is to make some short Reflexions upon the Authours of Purgatory and other new-invented Doctrines in the Church of Rome First They may be charged for imposing upon our belief things contrary to reason self-inconsistent and incongruous of this I will give but one instance which is their asserting that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament is changed into the real and substantial Body and Bloud of Christ For this is the hardest thing that ever was put upon Men in any Religion because they cannot admit it unless their reason be laid aside as no competent Judge in the matter unless also they give the lye to the report of their senses And if we do this how shall we think that God made our Faculties true which if he did not doe we are absolutely discharged from all duty to him because we have no faculty that can resolve us that This is of God for if our reason must not be trusted we must cease to be Men if our senses are not to be believed the chiefest proof of Christianity falls to the ground which was the sight of those who saw our Saviour after he was risen from the Dead Now if I may not believe the reason of my mind in conjunction with three or four of my senses how shall I know that any thing is this or that therefore I say that this Doctrine is a gross invention of Men contrary both to reason and sense Secondly The Truths they do acknowledge are made void subtile distinctions or equivocations as for example their Doctrine of probability and of directing the intention if a Man can find any Doctour among them that held such an opinion it makes that Doctrine probable and there is nothing so contrary to the rules of vertue and conscience but what some Romish casuistical Doctour hath resolved to be good and practicable just as Tully says there is nothing so absurd or ridiculous which some Philosopher or other hath not maintained and asserted So by directing their intention they may declare that which is false and deny that which is true because they intend the credit of their Church and Religion this mere intention shall excuse them from the guilt of downright falshood and lying They are so well practised in equivocations that you cannot confide in any words they speak they are so ambiguous and of such doubtfull meaning in their evasions their Speech shall bear a double sense whereas no Man ought to use wit and parts to impose upon another or to make a Man believe That which he doth not mean For the Christian Law is plain and obvious void of all ambiguity or ensnaring speeches free from all Sophistications and windings of Language never flies to words of a dubious or uncertain signification but plainly declares the truth to Men therefore these practices are contrary to that simplicity and plain-heartedness which ought to be in the conversation of every Christian Thirdly They super-add to Religion things altogether unlikely to be true and dishonourable to God which will appear in these following particulars I. The use of Images in the Worship of God an Idolatry they are too guilty of otherwise they would never leave out the Second Commandment and divide the Tenth into two to conceal it from the People We find better Doctrine than this among the Philosophers who say God is to be Worshipped by Purity of Mind for this is a rational service and a worship most suitable to an immaterial Being it being the use of that in us which is the highest and noblest of our Faculties II. the veneration of Reliques a very vain and foolish thing for there can be no certainty at this distance of time what they are and if they were indeed what they are taken for what veneration is or can be due to them For inanimate things are far inferiour to those that have life and for the living to worship things that are dead is unaccountable and irrational III. The Invocation or Worship of Angels and Saints our Fellow-creatures particularly of the Virgin Mary