and darke dungeon of death that is into Hades adding afterward that Hades may rightly be esteemed to be the house and mansion of such as are deprived of life Nicephorus Gregoras in his funerall Oration upon Theodorus Metochites putteth in this for one strayne of his lamentation Who hath brought downe that heavenly man unto the bottome of Hades and Andrew archbishop of Crete touching the descent both of Christ and all Christians after him even unto the darke and comfortlesse Hades writeth in this maner If hee who was the Lord and master of all and the light of them that are in darknesse and the life of all men would taste death and undergoe the descent into Hell that he might be made like unto us in all things sinne excepted and for three dayes went thorough the sad obscure and darke region of Hell what strange thing is it that wee who are sinners and dead in trespasses according to the great Apostle who are subject to generation and corruption should meete with death and goe with our soule into the darke chambers of Hell where we cannot see light nor behold the life of mortall men For are wee above our Master or better then the Saints who underwent these things of ours after the like maner that we must doe Iuvencus intimateth that our Saviour giving up the ghost sent his soule unto heaven in those verses of his Tunc clamor Domini magno conamine missus Aethereis animam comitem commiscuit auris Eusebius Emesenus collecteth so much from the last words which our Lord uttered at the same time Father into thine hands I commend my spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His spirit was above and his body remayned upon the crosse for us In the Greeke exposition of the Canticles collected out of Eusebius Philo Carpathius and others that sentence in the beginning of the sixt chapter My beloved is gone down into his garden is interpreted of Christs going to the soules of the Saints in Hádes which in the Latin collections that beare the name of Philo Carpathius is thus more largely expressed By this descending of the Bridegrome we may understand the descending of our Lord Iesus Christ into Hell as I suppose for that which followeth proveth this when he sayeth To the beds of spices For those ancient holy men are not unfiâ—ly signified by the beds of spices such as were Noë Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses Iob David Samuel Elisaeus Daniel and very many others before the Law in the Law who all of them like unto beds of spices gave a most sweete smell of the odours and fruits of holy righteousnesse For then as a triumpher did he enter into PARADISE when he pierced into Hell God himselfe is present with us for a witnesse in this matter when he answered most graciously to the Thiefe upon the Crosse commending himselfe unto him most religiously To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Lastly touching this Paradise the various opinions of the ancient are thus layd downe by Olympiodorus to seeke no farther It is a thing worthy of enquirie in what place under the Sunne the righteous are placed which have left this life Certaine it is that in Paradise forasmuch as Christ said unto the Thiefe This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And it is to be knowne that the literall Tradition teacheth Paradise to be in earth But some have said that Paradise also is in Hell that is in a place under the earth unto which opinion of theirs they apply that of the Gospell where the rich man saw Lazarus being yet himselfe sunke downe in a lower place when Lazarus was in a place more eminent where Abraham was But howsoever the matter goeth this without doubt is manifest aswell out of Ecclesiastes as out of all the sacred Scripture that the godly shall be in prosperity and peace and the ungodly in punishments and torments And others are of the minde that Paradise is in the Heavens c. Hitherto Olympiodorus That Christs soule went into Paradise Doctor Bishop saith being well understood is true For his soule in hell had the joyes of Paradise but to make that an exposition of Christs descending into hell is to expound a thing by the flat contrary of it Yet this ridiculous exposition he affirmeth to be received of most Protestants Which is even as true as that which he avoucheth in the same place that this article of the descent into Hell is to be found in the old Roman Creed expounded by Ruffinus where Ruffinus as we have heard expounding that article delivereth the flat contrarie that it is not found added in the Creed of the Church of Rome It is true indeed that more than most Protestants do interprete the words of Christ uttered unto the Thiefe upon the Crosse Luk. 23.43 of the going of his soule into Paradise where our Saviour meaning simply and plainly that hee would be that day in Heaven M. Bishop would have him so to be understood as if he had meant that that day he would be in Hell And must it be now held more ridiculous in Protestants to take Hell for Paradise then in M. Bishop to take Paradise for Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be the wordes of the Apostles Creed in the Greeke and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Symbol of Athanasius Some learned Protestants do observe that in these words there is no determinate mention made eyther of ascending or descending either of Heaven or Hell taking Hell according to the vulgar acception but of the generall only under which these contraries are indifferently comprehended and that the words literally interpreted import no more but this HEE WENT UNTO THE OTHER WORLD Which is not to expound a thing by the flat contrary of it as M. Bishop fancieth who may quickly make himselfe ridiculous in taking upon him thus to censure the interpretations of our learned linguistes unlesse his owne skill in the languages were greater then as yet he hath given proofe of Master Broughton with whose authoritie hee elsewhere presseth us as of a man esteemed to be singularly seene in the Hebrew and Greeke tongue hath beene but too forward in maintayning that exposition which by D. Bishop is accounted so ridiculous In one place touching the terme Hell as it doth answer the Hebrew Sheol and the Greeke Hádes he writeth thus He that thinketh it ever used for Tartaro or Gehenna otherwise then the terme Death may by Synecdoche import so hath not skill in Ebrew or that Greeke vvhich breathing and live Graecia spake if God hath lent me any judgement that way In another place he alledgeth out of Portus his Dictionary that the Macedonians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven And one of his acquaintance beyond the Sea reporteth that he should deliver that in many most ancient Manuscript copies the Lords prayer is found with this
scholies upon the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy wisheth us to marke that even before his time that doubt was questioned Among the questions wherein Dulcitius desired to be resolved by S. Augustin we finde this to be one Whether the offering that is made for the dead did avayle their soules any thing and that MANY did say to this that if herein any good were to be done after death how much rather should the soule it selfe obtaine ease for it selfe by it owne confessing of her sinnes there than that for the ease thereof an oblation should be procured by other men The like also is noted by Cyrill or rather Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem that he knew MANY who said thus What profite doth the soule get that goeth out of this world eyther with sinnes or not with sinnes if you make mention of it in prayer and by Anastasius Sinaita or Nicaenus Some doe doubt saying that the dead are not profited by the oblations that are made for them and long after them by Petrus Cluniacensis in his treatise against the followers of Peter Bruse in France That the good deeds of the living may profit the dead both these hereticks doe deny and some Catholicks also do seeme to doubt Nay in the West not the profite onely but the lawfulnesse also of these doings for the dead was called in question as partly may be collected by Boniface archbishop of Mentz his consulting with Pope Gregory about 730. yeares after the birth of our Saviour Whether it were lawfull to offer oblations for the dead which hee should have no reason to doe if no question had beene made thereof among the Germans and is plainly delivered by Hugo Etherianus about 1170. yeares after Christ in these words I know that many are deformed with vaine opinions thinking that the dead are not to be prayed for because that neither Christ nor the Apostles that succeeded him have intimated these things in the Scriptures But they are ignorant that there be many things and those exceeding necessary frequented by the holy Church the tradition whereof is not had in the Scriptures and yet they pertaine neverthelesse to the worship of God and obtaine great strength Whereby it may appeare that this practise wanted not opposition even then when in the Papacie it was advanced unto his greatest height And now is it high time that I should passe from this article unto the next following OF LIMBVS PATRVM And CHRISTS DESCENT INTO HELL HEre doth our Challenger undertake to prove against us not only that there is Limbus Patrum but that our Saviour also descended into Hell to deliver the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament because before his Passion none ever entred into Heaven That there was such a thing as Limbus Patrum I have heard it said but what it is now the Doctors varie yet agree all in this that Limbus it may well be but Limbus Patrum sure it is not Whether it were distinct from that place in which the infants that depart out of this life without baptisme are now beleeved to be received the Divines doe doubt neyther is there any thing to be rashly pronounced of so doubtfull a matter saith Maldonat the Iesuite The Dominican Friars that wrote against the Grecians at Constantinople in the yeare 1252 resolve that into this Limbus the holy Fathers before the comming of Christ did descend but now the children that depart vvithout baptisme are detained there so that in their iudgement that which was the Limbus of Fathers is now become the Limbus of Children The more common opinion is that these be two distinct places and that the one is appointed for unbaptized infants but the other now remayneth voide and so shall remaine that it may beare witnesse aswell of the justice as of the mercie of God If you demand how it came to be thus voyd emptied of the old inhabitants the answer is here given that our Saviour descended into Hell purposely â—o deliver from hence the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament But Hell is one thing I ween saith Tertullian and Abrahams bâ—some where the Fathers of the old Testament rested another neyther is it to be beleeved that the bosome of Abraham being the habitation of a secret kinde of rest was any part of Hell saith S. Augustin To say then that our Saviour descended into Hell to deliver the ancient Fathers of the old Testament out of Limbus Patrum would by this construction prove as strange a tale as if it had beene reported that Caesar made a voyage into Brittaine to set his friends at libertie in Greece Yea but before Christs Passion none ever entred into Heaven saith our Challenger The proposition that Cardinall Bellarmine taketh upon him to prove where he handleth this controversie is that the soules of the godly were not in Heaven before the Asâ—ension of Christ. Our Iesuite it seemeth considered here with himselfe that Christ had promised unto the penitent theefe upon the crosse that not before his ascension only but also before his resurrection even that day he should be with him in Paradise that is to say in the kingdome of heaven as the Cardinaâ—l himselfe doth prove both by the authoritie of S. Paul making Paradise and the third heaven to be the selfe same thing and by the testimony of the ancient expositors of the place This belike stuck somewhat in our Iesuites stomack who being loath to interpret this of his Limbus Patrum as others of that side had done and to maintaine that Paradise in stead of the third Heaven should signifie the third or the fourth Hell thought it best to shift the matter handsomely away by taking upon him to defend that not before Christs ascension least that of the Thiefe should crosse him but before his passion none ever entred into Heaven But if none before our Saviours Passion did ever enter into Heaven whither shall we say that Elias did enter The Scripture assureth us that he went up into heaven 2. Kings 2.11 of this Mattathias put his sonnes in mind upon his death-bedd that Elias being zealous and fervent for the law was taken up into heaven Elias and Moses both before the passion of Christ are described to be in glory Lazarus is carried by the Angells into a place of comfort and not of imprisonment in a word all the Fathers accounted themselves to be strangers and pilgrims in this earth seeking for a better countrey that is an heavenly as well as we doe and therefore having ended their pilgrimage they arrived at the country they sought for as well as wee They beleeved to be saved through the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ as well as we they lived by that faith as well as we they dyed in Christ as well as we they received remission of sinnes imputation of
so they call it peradventure hath no intention to receive it or is not rightly disposed or putteth some blocke in the way Therefore the Minister saith hee signifieth nothing else by those words but that hee as much as in him lyeth conferreth the sacrament of reconciliation or absolution which in a man rightly disposed hath vertue to forgive all his sinnes Now that Contrition is at all times necessarily required for obtayning remission of sinnes and iustification is a matter determined by the Fathers of Trent But marke yet the mysterie They equivocate with us in the terme of Contrition and make a distinction thereof into perfect and imperfect The former of these is Contrition properly the latter they call Attrition which howsoever in it selfe it be not true Contrition yet when the Priest with his power of forgiving sinnes interposeth himselfe in the businesse they tell us that attrition by vertue of the keyes is made contrition that is to say that a sorrow arising from a servile feare of punishment and such a fruitlesse repentance as the reprobate may carry with them to hell by vertue of the Priests absolution is made so fruitfull that it shall serve the turne for obteyning forgivenesse of sinnes as if it had beene that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of By which spirituall coosenage many poore soules are most miserably deluded while they perswade themselves that upon the receipt of the Priests acquittance upon this carnall sorrow of theirs all skores are cleered untill that day and then beginning upon a new reckoning they sinne and confesse confesse and sinne afresh and tread this round so long till they put off all thought of saving repentance and so the blinde following the blinde both at last fall into the pit Evill and wicked carnall naturall and divellish men saith S. Augustin imagine those things to be given unto them by their seducers which are onely the gifts of God whether sacraments or any other spirituall workes concerning their present salvation But such as are thus seduced may doe well to listen a little to this grave admonition of S. Cyprian Let no man deceive let no man beguile himselfe it is the Lord alone that can shew mercy He alone can grant pardon to the sinnes committed against him who did himselfe beare our sinnes who suffered griefe for us whom God did deliver for our sinnes Man cannot be greater then God neyther can the servant by his indulgence remit or pardon that which by haynous trespasse is committed against the Lord lest to him that is fallen this yet be added as a further crime if hee be ignorant of that which is said Cursed is the man that putteth his trust in man Whereupon S. Augustin sticketh not to say that good ministers doe consider that they are but ministers they would not be held for Iudges they abhorre that any trust should be put in them and that the power of remitting and retayning sinnes is committed unto the Church to be dispensed therein not according to the arbitrement of man but according to the arbitrement of God Whereas our adversaries lay the foundation of their Babel upon another ground that Christ hath appointed Priests to be Iudges upon earth with such power that none falling into sinne after Baptisme may be reconciled without their sentence and hath put the authoritie of binding and loosing of forgiving and retayning the sinnes of men in their arbitrement Whether the Ministers of the Gospell may be accounted Iudges in some sort we wil not much contend for we dislike neyther that saying of S. Hierome that having the keyes of the kingdome of heaven they judge after a sort before the day of judgement nor that other of S. Gregory that the Apostles such as succeed them in the governement of the Church obtaine a principalitie of judgement from above that they may in Gods stead retayne the sinnes of some and release the sinnes of others All the question is in what sort they doe judge and whether the validitie of their judgement doe depend upon the truth of the conversion of the penitent wherein if our Romanists would stand to the iudgement of S. Hierome or S. Gregory one of whom they make a Cardinall and the other a Pope of their owne Church the controversie betwixt us would quickly be at an end For S. Hierome expounding that speech of our Saviour touching the keyes of the kingdome of heaven in the sixteenth of S. Matthew The Bishops and Priests saith he not understanding this place assume to themselves somewhat of the Pharisees arrogancie as imagining that they may either condemne the innocent or absolve the guiltie vvhereas it is not the sentence of the Priests but the life of the parties that is inquired of vvith God In the booke of Leviticus vvee reade of the Lepers vvhere they are commanded to shew themselves to the Priests and if they shall have the leprosie that then they shall be made uncleane by the Priest not that the Priests should make them leprous and uncleane but that they should take notice who was a leper and who was not and should discerne who was cleane and who uncleane Therefore as there the Priest doth make the leper cleane or uncleane so here the Bishop or Priest doth binde or loose not binde the innocent or loose the guiltie but when according to his office hee heareth the variety of sinnes hee knoweth who is to be bound and who to be loosed Thus farre S. Hierome S. Gregory likewise in the very same place from whence the Romanists fetch that former sentence doth thus declare in what maner that principalitie of iudgement which he spake of should be exercised being therin also followed step by step by the Fathers of the Councell of Aquisgran The causes ought to bee weighed and then the power of binding and loosing exercised It is to be seene what the fault is and what the repentance is that hath followed after the fault that such as almightie God doth visite with the grace of compunction those the sentence of the Pastor may absolve For the absolution of the Prelate is then true when it followeth the arbitrement of the eternall Iudge And this doe they illustrate by that which we reade in the Gospell of the raysing of Lazarus Ioh. 11.44 that Christ did first of all give life to him that was dead by himselfe and then commanded others to loose him and let him goe Behold say they the disciples doe loose him being now alive whom their Master had raysed up being dead For if the disciples had loosed Lazarus being dead they should have discovered a stinche more then a vertue By which consideration vvee may see that by our Pastorall authoritie vvee ought to loose those vvhom vvee know that our Authour and Lord hath revived vvith his quickning grace The same application also doe wee finde made not onely
by Peter Lombard and other of the Schoolemen but also by Iudocus Clichtoveus not long before the time of the Councell of Trent Lazarus saith Clichtoveus first of all came forth alive out of the sepulchre and then was commandement given by our Lord that hee should be loosed by the disciples and suffered to go his way because the Lord doth first inwardly by himselfe quicken the sinner and afterwards absolveth him by the Priests ministerie For no sinner is to be absolved before it appeareth that hee be amended by due repentance and bee quickned inwardly But inwardly to quicken the sinner is the office of God alone who saith by the Prophet I am he that blotteth out your iniquities The truth therefore of the Priests absolution dependeth upon the truth and sinceritie of Gods quickning grace in the heart of the Penitent which if it be wanting all the absolutions in the world will stand him in no stead For example our Saviour saith If yee forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neyther will your Father forgive your trespasses and in this respect as is observed by Sedulius in other mens persons we are eyther absolved or bound graviusque soluti Nectimur alterius si solvere vincla negamus Suppose now that a man who cannot find in his heart to forgive the wrong done unto him by another is absolved here by the Priest from all his sinnes according to the usuall forme of Absolution are wee to thinke that what is thus loosed upon earth shall be loosed in heaven and that Christ to make the Priests word true will make his owne false And what wee say of charitie toward man must much more be understood of the love of God and the love of righteousnesse the defect whereof is not to be supplyed by the absolution of anie Priest It hath beene alwayes observed for a speciall difference betwixt good and bad men that the one hated sinne for the love of vertue the other onely for the feare of punishment The like difference do our Adveâ—saries make betwixt Contrition and Attrition that the hatred of sinne in the one proceedeth from the love of God and of righteousnesse in the other from the feare of punishment and yet teach for all this that Attrition which they confesse would not otherwise suffice to justifie a man being ioyned with the Priests Absolution is sufficient for that purpose he that was attrite being by vertue of this Absolution made contrite and iustified that is to say hee that was led onely by a servile feare and consequently was to be rancked among disordered and evill persons being by this meanes put in as good case for the matter of the forgivenesse of his sinnes as hee that loveth God sincerely For they themselves doe graunt that such as have this servile feare from whence Attrition issueth are to be accounted evill and disordered men by reason of their want of charitie to which purpose also they alledge that saying of Gregory Recti diligunt te non recti adhuc timent te Such as be righteous love thee such as be not rightâ—ous as yet feare thee But they have taken an order notwithstanding that non recti shall stand recti in curiâ with them by assuming a strange authoritie unto themselves of iustifying the wicked a thing we know that hath the curse of God and man threatned unto it making men friends with God that have not the love of God dwelling in them For although we be taught by the word of God that perfect love casteth out feare that wee have not received the spirit of bondage to feare againe but the spirit of adoption whereby wee cry Abba father that mount Sinai which maketh those that come unto it to feare and quake engendreth to bondage and is to be cast out with her children from inheriting the promise that without love both we our selves are nothing and all that we have doth profit us nothing yet these wonderfull men would have us beleeve that by their word alone they are able to make something of this nothing that feare without love shall make men capable of the benefite of their pardon as well as love without feare that whether men come by the way of mount Sinai or mount Sion whether they have Legall or Evangelicall repentance they have authoritie to absolve them from all their sinnes as if it did lye in their power to confound Gods Testaments at their pleasure and to give unto a servile feare not the benefite of manumission only but the priviledge of adoption also by making the children of the bondwoman children of the promise and giving them a portion in that blessed inheritance together with the children of her that is free Repentance from dead workes is one of the foundations and principles of the doctrine of Christ. Nothing maketh repentance certaine but the hatred of sinne and the love of God and without true repentance all the Priests under heaven are not able to give us a discharge from our sinnes and deliver us from the wrath to come Except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven Except yee repent yee shall all perish is the Lords saying in the new Testament and in the old Repent and turne from all your transgressions so iniquitie shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby yee have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will yee dye O house of Israel Now put case one commeth to his ghostly father with such sorrow of minde as the terrours of a guiltie conscience usually doe produce and with such a resolution to cast away his sins as a man hath in a storme to cast away his goods not because he doth not love them but because he feareth to loose his life if he part not with them doth not he betray this mans soule who putteth into his head that such an extorted repentance as this which hath not one graine of love to season it withall wil qualifie him sufficiently for the receiving of an absolution by I know not what sacramentall facultie that the Priest is furnished withall to that purpose For all doe confesse with S. Augustin that this feare which loveth not justice but dreadeth punishment is servile because it is carnall and therefore doth not crucifie the flesh For the willingnesse to sinne liveth which then appeareth in the work when impunitie is hoped for but when it is beleeved that punishment will follow it liveth closely yet it liveth For it would wish rather that it were lawfull to doe that which the Law forbiddeth and is sorry that it is not lawfull because it is not spiritually delighted with the good thereof but carnally feareth the evill vvhich it doth threaten What man then doe we
labouâ—ed in vaine 1. Thessal 2.19 For what is our hope or joy or crowne of rejoycing are not even yee in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his comming 1. Pet. 1. â— Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation readie to be revealed in the last time 1. Corinth 5.5 That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iâ—sus Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby yee are sealed unto the day of redemption Luk. 21.28 When these things beginne to come to passe then looke up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh 2. Timoth. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righâ—eousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and Luk. 14.14 Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just And that the Church in her Offices for the dead had speciall respect unto this time of the Resurrection appeareth plainly both by the portions of Scripture appointed to be read therein and by diverse particulars in the prayers themselves that manifestly discover this intention For there the ministers as the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy reporteth read those undoubted promises vvhich are recorded in the divine Scriptures of our holy ResurrectioÌ„ and then devoutly sang such of the sacred Psalmes as were of the same subject and argument And so accordingly in the Romane Missall the lessons ordained to be read for that time are taken from 1. Corinth 15. Behold I tell you a mysterie Wee shall all rise againe c. Ioh. 5. The houre commeth wherein all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life c. 1. Thessal 4. Brethren we would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleepe that yee sorrow not as others which have no hope Ioh. 11. I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in me although he were dead shall live 2. Maccab. 12. Iudas caused a sacrifice to be offered for the sinnes of the dead justly and religiously thinking of the Resurrection Ioh. 6. This is the will of my Father that sent me that every one that seeth the Sonne and beleeveth in him may have life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and lastly Apocal. 14. I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth now saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours for their workes follow them Wherewith the Sequence also doth agree beginning Dies irae dies illa Solvet saeclum in favillâ Teste David cum Sibyllâ and ending Lacrymosa dies illa Quâ resurget ex favillâ Iudicandus homo reus Huic ergo parce Deus Pie Iesu Domine Dona eis requiem Tertullian in his booke de Monogamiâ which hee wrote after hee had beene infected with the heresie of the Montanists speaking of the prayer of a widow for the soule of her deceased husband saith that she requesteth refreshing for him and a portion in the first resurrection Which seemeth to have some tang of the error of the Millenaries whereunto not Tertullian onely with his Prophet Montanus but Nepos also and Lactantius and diverse other Doctors of the Church did fall who misunderstanding the prophecie in the 20. of the Revelation imagined that there should be a first resurrection of the just that should raigne here a thousand yeares upon earth and after that a second resurrection of the wicked at the day of the general judgement Yet in a certaine Gotthicke Missall I meet with two severall exhortations made unto the people to pray after the selfe same forme the one that God would vouchsafe to place in the bosome of Abraham the soules of those that be at rest and admit them unto the part of the first resurrectioÌ„ the other which I find elsewhere also repeated in particular that he would place in rest the spirits of their friends which were gone before them in the Lords peace and rayse them up in the part of the first resurrection Which how it may be excused otherwise then by saying that at the generall resurrection the dead in Christ shall rise fiâ—st and then the wicked shall be raysed after them and by referring the first resurrection unto the resurrection of the just which shall be at that day I cannot well resolve For certaine it is that the first râ—surrection spoken of in the 20. chapter of the Revelation of S. Iohn is the resuâ—rection of the soule from the death of sinne and error in this world as the second is the resurrection of the bodie out of the dust of the earth in the world to come both whiâ—h be distinctly layd down by our Saviour in the fift chapter of the Gospell of S. Iohn the first in the 25. verse The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live the second in the 28. and 29. Marveile not at this for the houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation And to this generall resurrection and to the judgement of the last day had the Church relation in her prayers some patternes whereof it will not be amisse to exhibit here in these examples following Although the condition of death brought in upon mankinde doth make our hearts and mindes heavy yet by the gift of thy clemencie we are raised up with the hope of future immortalitie and being mindfull of eternall salvation are not afraid to sustaine the losse of this light For by the benefite of thy grace life is not taken away to the faithful but changed and the soules being freed from the prison of the body abhorre things mortall when they attaine unto things eternall Wherefore we beseech thee that thy servant N. being placed in the tabernacles of the blessed may rejoyce that he hath escaped the straytes of the flesh and in the desire of glorification expect with confidence the day of Iudgement Through Iesus Christ our Lord. whose holy passion we celebrate without doubt for immortall and well resting soules for them especially upon whom thou hast bestowed the grace of the second birth who by the example of the same Iesus Christ our Lord have begunne to be secure of the resurrection For thou vvho hast made the things that were not art able to repaire the things that were and hast given unto us evidences of the resurrection to come not onely by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles but also by the
resurrection of the same thy onely begotten Sonne our Redeemer O God who art the Creator and maker of all things and vvho art the blisse of thy Saincts grant unto us who make request unto thee that the spirit of our brother who is loosed from the knott of his body may bee presented in the blessed resurrection of thy Saincts O almightie and mercifull God vve doe intreat thy clemency forasmuch as by thy judgement we are borne and make an end that thou wilt receive into everlasting rest the soule of our brother whom thou of thy piety hast commanded to passe from the dwelling of this world and permit him to be associated with the company of thine elect that together with them he may remaine in everlasting blisse without end Eternall God vvho in Christ thine only begotten sonne our Lord hast given unto us the hope of a blessed Resurrection grant we beseech thee that the soules for which we offer this sacrifice of our redemption unto thy Majestie may of thy mercy attaine unto the rest of a blessed resurrection with thy Saincts Let this communion we beseech thee O Lord purge us from sinne and give unto the soule of thy servant N. a portion in the heavenly joy that being set apart before the throne of the glory of thy Christ with those that are upon the right hand it may have nothing common with those that are upon the left Through Christ our Lord. At whose comming when thou shalt command both the peoples to appeare command thy servant also to be severed from the number of the evill and grant unto him that he may both escape the flames of everlasting punishment and obtaine the rewards of a righteous life c. In these and other prayers of the like kind we may descry evident footsteps of the primarie intention of the Church in her supplications for the dead which was that the whole man not the soule separated only might receive publick remission of sinnes a solemne acquitall in the judgement of that great day and so obtaine both a full escape from all the consequences of sinne the last enemie being now destroyed and death swallowed up in victory and a perfect consummation of blisse and happinesse all which are comprised in that short prayer of S. Paul for Onesiphorus though made for him while he was alive The Lord grant unto him that he may finde mercie of the Lord in that day Yea diverse prayers for the dead of this kinde are still retained in the Romane Offices of which the great Spanish Doctor Iohannes Medina thus writeth Although I have read manie prayers for the faithfull deceased which are contayned in the Romane Missall yet have I read in none of them that the Church doth petition that they may more quickly be freed from paines but I have read that in some of them petition is made that they may be freed from everlasting paines For beside the common prayer that is used in the Masse for the Commemoration of all the faithfull deceased that Christ would free them from the mouth of the Lion that Hell may not swallow them up and that they may not fall into the place of darknesse this prayer is prescribed for the day wherin the dead did depart out of this life O God vvhose propertie is alwayes to have mercie and to spare vve most humbly beseech thee for the soule of thy servant N. which this day thou hast commanded to depart out of this world that thou mayst not deliver it into the hands of the enemy nor forget it finally but command it to be received by the holy Angels and brought unto the country of Paradise that because he hath trusted and beleeved in thee he may not sustain the paines of Hell but possesse joyes everlasting which is a direct prayer that the soule of him which was then departed might immediatly be received into Heaven and escape not the temporarie paines of Purgatorie but the everlasting paines of Hell for howsoever the new reformers of the Romane Missall have put in here poenas inferni under the generalitie peradventure of the terme of the paines of hell intending to shrowde their Purgatorie which they would have men beleeve to be one of the lodges of Hell yet in the old Missall which Medina had respect unto we reade expressely poenas aeternas everlasting paines which by no construction can be referred unto the paines of Purgatorie and to the same purpose in the book of the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome at the exequies of a Cardinall a prayer is appointed to be read that by the assistance of Gods grace he might escape the judgement of everlasting revenge who while he lived was marked with the seale of the holy Trinity Againe there be other prayers saith Medina wherein petition is made that God would raise the soules of the dead in their bodies unto blisse at the day of judgement Such for example is that which is found in the Romane Missall Absolve vvee beseech thee O Lord the soule of thy servant from all the bond of his sinnes that in the glory of the resurrection being raysed among thy saincts and elect hee may breath againe or bee refreshed and that other in the Romane Pontificall O God unto whom all things doe live and unto whom our bodies in dying do not perish but are changed for the better we humbly pray thee that thou wouldest command the soule of thy servant N. to be received by the hands of thy holy Angells to be carried into the bosome of thy friend the Patriarch Abraham and to be raysed up at the last day of the great judgement whatsoever faults by the deceit of the Divel he hath incurred do thou of thy pitie and mercy wash away by forgiving them Now forasmuch as it is most certaine that all such as depart in grace as the Adversaries acknowledge that all in Purgatorie doe are sure to escape Hell and to be raysed up unto glorie at the last day Medina perplexeth himselfe exceedingly in according these kinde of praiers with the received grounds of Purgatorie and after much agitation of the businesse too and fro at last resolveth upon one of these two desperate conclusions that touching these praiers which are made in the Church for the dead it may first of all be said that it is not necessary to excuse them all from all unfitnesse For many things are permitted to be read in the Church which although they be not altogether true nor altogether fit yet serve for the stirring up and increasing the devotion of the faithfull Many such things saith he we beleeve are contayned in the histories that be not sacred and in the Legends of the Saincts and in the opinions and writings of the Doctors all which are tolerated by the Church in the meane time while there is no question moved of them and no scandall ariseth from
finde it to be held indeed both by some of the ancient as namely in Caius who lived at Rome when Zephyrinus was Bishop there and is accounted to be the author of the treatise falsely fathered upon Iosephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a large fragment whereof hath beene lately published by Hoeschelius in his notes upon Photius his Bibliotheke and by the latter Grecians in whose name Marcus Eugenicus archbishop of Ephesus doth make this protestation against such of his countrymen as yeelded to the definition of the Florentine Councell We say that neither the Saincts do receive the kingdome prepared for them and those secret good things neyther the sinners doe as yet fall into Hell but that eyther of them doe remaine in expectation of their proper lott and that this appertayneth unto the time that is to come after the Resurrection and the Iudgement But these men with the Latines would have these to receive presently after death the things they have deserved but unto those of the middle sort that is to such as dye in penance they assigne a purgatory fire which they faine to be distinct from that of Hell that thereby say they being purged in their soules after death they likewise may be received into the kingdome of heaven together vvith the righteous That barbarous impostor as Molanus rightly styleth him who counterfeyted a letter as written by S. Cyrill Bishop of Ierusalem unto S. Augustin touching the miracles of S. Hierome taketh upon him to lay down the precise time of the first arising of this sect among the Grecians in this maner After the death of most glorious Hierome a certaine heresie or sect arose amongst the Grecians and came to the Latines also which went about with their wicked reasons to prove that the soules of the blessed untill the day of the generall Iudgment wherein they were to be joyned againe unto their bodies are deprived of the sight and knowledge of God in which the whole blessednesse of the Saincts doth consist and that the soules of the damned in like maner untill that day are tormented with no paines Whose reason was this that as the soule did merit or sinne with the body so with the bodie was it to receive rewards or paines Those wicked sectaries also did maintaine that there was no place of Purgatory wherein the soules vvhich had not done full penance for their sinnes in this world might be purged Which pestilent sect getting head so great sorrow fell upon us that we were even weary of our life Then he telleth a wise tale how S. Hierome being at that time with God for the confutation of this new-sprong heresie raysed up three men from the dead after that hee had first ledd their soules into Paradise Purgatory and Hell to the end they might make known unto all men the things that were done there but had not the witt to consider that S. Cyrill himselfe had need to be raysed up to make the fourth man among them for how otherwise should he who dyed thirtie yeares before S. Hierome as is knowne to every one that knoweth the history of those times have heard and written the newes which those three good fellowes that were raised by S. Hierome after his death did relate concerning Heaven Hell and Purgatory Yet is it nothing so strange to me I confesse that such idle dreames as these should be devised in the times of darknesse to delude the world withall as that now in the broad day light Binsfeldius and Suarez and other Romish merchants should adventure to bring forth such rotten stuffe as this with hope to gaine anie credite of antiquitie thereby unto the new erected staple of Popish Purgatory The Dominican Friars in a certaine treatise written by them at Constantinople in the yeare 1252. assigne somewhat a lower beginning unto this error of the Grecians affirming that they followed therein a certain inventer of this heresie named Andrew Archbishop sometime of Caesarea in Cappadocia who said that the soules did wayt for their bodies that together with them with which they had committed good or evill they might likewise receave the recompense of their deeds But that which Andrew saith herein he saith not out of his own head and therefore is wrongfully charged to be the first inventer of it but out of the judgement of many godly fathers that went before him It hath been said saith he by many of the Saincts that all vertuous men after this life do receive places fit for them whence they may certainly make conjecture of the glory that shall befall unto them Where Peltanus bestoweth such another marginall note upon him as Gretser his fellow-Iesuite did upon Anastasius This opinion is now expressely condemned and rejected by the Church And yet doth Alphonsus de Castro aknowledge that the Patrons thereof vvere famous men renowned as well for holinesse as for knowledge but telleth us withall that no man ought to marvaile that such great men should fall into so pestilent an error because as the Apostle S. Iames saith he that offendeth not in word is a perfect man Another particular opinion which wee must sever from the generall intention of the Church in her oblations and prayers for the dead is that which is noted by Theophylact upon the speech of our Saviour Luk. 12.5 in which he wisheth us to observe that hee did not say Feare him who after hee hath killed casteth into hell but hath power to cast into hell For the sinners which dye saith he are not alwayes cast into hell but it remaineth in the power of God to pardon them also And this I say for the oblations and doales which are made for the dead which do not a little avayle even them that dye in grievous sinnes He doth not therefore generally after he hath killed cast into hell but hath power to cast Wherfore let us not cease by almes and intercession to appease him who hath power to cast but doth not alwayes use this power but is able to pardon also Thus farre Theophylact whom our Adversaries doe blindely bring in for the countenancing of their use of praying and offering for the dead not considering that the prayers and oblations which he would uphold doe reach even unto such as dye in grievous sinnes which the Romanists acknowledge to receive no reliefe at all by anie thing that they can doe and are intended for the keeping of soules from being cast into Hell and not for fetching them out when they have been cast into Purgatorie a place that never came within the compasse of Theophylacts beleefe His testimonie will fit a great deale better the prayer of S. Dunstan who as the tale goeth having understood that the soule of King Edwin was to be carried into Hell never gave over praying untill hee had gotten him ridd of that danger and transferred unto the coast of penitent soules where hee well deserved doubtlesse to
undergoe that penance which Hugh Bishop of Coventry and Chester on his death-bed imposed upon himselfe even to lye in the dungeon of Purgatory without bayle or mainprise untill the generall jaylâ—-deliverie of the last day Another private conceyte intertained by diverse as well of the elder as of middle times in their devotions for the dead was that an augmentation of glory might thereby be procured for the Saincts and eyther a totall deliverance or a diminution of torment at least wise obtained for the wicked If the Barbarians saith S. Chrysostom do bury with their dead the things that belong unto them it is much more reason that thou shouldest send with the deceased the things that are his not that they may be made ashes as they were but that they may adde greater glory unto him and if hee be departed hence a sinner that they may loose his sinnes but if righteous that an addition may be made to his reward and retribution Yea in the verie latter dayes Iuo Carnotensis writing unto Mawd Queene of England concerning the prayers that were to be made for the King her brother his soule saith that it doth not seeme idle if vve make intercessions for those who alreadie enjoy rest that their rest may be encreased Whereupon Pope Innocent the third doth bring this for one of the answers wherewith he laboureth to salve the prayers which were used in the Church of Rome that such or such an oblation might profite such or such a Sainct unto glory that many repute it no indignitie that the glory of the Saincts should be augmented untill the day of judgement and therefore that in the meane time the Church may wish the increase of their glorification So likewise for the mitigation of the paines of them whose soules were doubted to be in torment this forme of prayer was of old used in the same Church as in Grimoldus his Sacramentary may be seen and retained in the Romane Missall it selfe untill in the late reformation thereof it was removed O almightie and mercifull God incline vve beseech thee thy holy eares unto our poore prayers which we doe humbly poure forth before the sight of thy Majestie for the soule of thy servant N. that forasmuch as we are distrustfull of the qualitie of his life by the abundance of thy pitie we may be comforted and if his soule cannot obtaine full pardon yet at least in the midst of the torments themselves which peradventure it suffereth out of the abundance of thy compassion it may feele refreshment which prayer whither it tended may appeare partly by that which Prudentius writeth of the play-dayes which he supposeth the soules in Hell sometime do obtaine Sunt spiritibus saepè nocentibus Poenarum celebres sub Styge feriae c. Marcent supplicijs Tartara mitibus Exultatque sui carceris otio Vmbrarum populus liber ab ignibus Nec fervent solito flumina sulphure partly by the doubtfull conceits of Gods mercifull dealing with the wicked in the world to come which are found in others but especially by these passages that we meet withall in the Sermons of S. Chrysostom This man hath spent his whole life in vaine neyther hath lived one day to himselfe but to voluptuousnesse to luxury to covetousnesse to sinne to the Divell Tell me therefore shall we not mourne for him shall we not endevour to pull him out of these dangers For there be meanes if we will whereby his punishment may be made light unto him If then we doe make continuall prayers for him if we bestoâ— almes although he be unworthy God will respect us For many have received benefite by the almes that have beene given by others for them and found thereby although not a perfect yet some consolation This therefore is done that although we our selves be not vertuous we may be carefull to get vertuous companions and friends and wife and sonne as looking to reape some fruit even by them also reaping indeed but little yet reaping some fruit notwithstanding Let us not therefore simply â—eepe for the dead but for such as are dead in their sinnes these be worthy of lamentations and bewaylings and teares For what hope is there tell me for men to depart with their sinnes where they cannot put off their sinnes for as long as they were here there was peradventure great expectation that they would be altered that they would be bettered but being gone unto Hell where there is no gayning of any thing by repentance for in hell saith he who shall confesse unto thee how are they not vvorthy of lamentations Let us therefore weepe for such let us succour them to our power let us finde out some help for them little indeed but yet such as may releeve them How and after what maner both praying our selves and intreating others to make prayers for them and giving continually unto the poore for them for this thing bringeth some consolation The like doctrine is delivered by Andrew archbishop of Crete in his Sermon of the life of man and of the dead and by Iohn Damascen or whosoever else was author of the book ascribed unto him concerning them that are departed in the faith where three notable tales are told of the benefite that even Infidells and Idolaters themselves should receive by such prayers as these One touching the soule of the Emperour Trajan delivered from Hell by the prayers of Pope Gregory of the truth whereof least anie man should make question he affirmeth very roundly that no lesse then the whole East and West will witnesse that this is true and uncontroulable And indeed in the East this fable seemeth first to have risen where it obtayned such credite that the Grecians to this day do still use this forme of prayer As thou didst loose Trajan from punishment by the earnest intercession of thy servant Gregory the Dialogue-writer heare us likewise who pray unto thee And therefore to them doth Hugo Etherianus thus appeale for justifying the truth of this narration Do not I pray you say in your hearts that this is false or fayned Inquire if you please of the Grecians the whole Greeke Church surely doth testifie these things He might if he had pleased being an Italian himselfe have inquired neerer home of the Romanes among whom this feate was reported to have beene acted rather then among the Grecians who were strangers to the businesse But the Romans as wee understand by Iohannes Diaconus in the life of S. Gregory found no such matter among their records and when they had notice given them thereof out of the Legends of the Church of England for from thence received they the newes of this and some other such strange acts reported to have beene done by S. Gregory among themselves they were not verie hastie to beleeve it because they could hardly be perswaded that S. Gregory who had taught them
particular error which seemeth to have gotten head in his time as being most plausible to the multitude and very pleasing unto the looser sort of Christians therein he did well but that thereupon he condemned the generall practise of the Church which had no dependance upon that erroneous conceipt therein he did like unto himselfe headily and perversely For the Church in her Commemorations and prayers for the dead had no relation at all unto those that had ledd their lives lewdly and dissolutely as appeareth plainly both by the author of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy and by diverse other evidences before alledged but unto those that did end their lives in such a godly maner as gave pregnant hope unto the living that their soules were at rest with God and to such as these alone did it wish the accomplishment of that which remained of their redemption to wit their publick justification and solemne acquitall at the last day and their perfect consummation of blisse both in body and soule in the kingdome of heaven for ever after not that the event of these things was conceived to be anie wayes doubtfull for wee have beene told that things may be prayed for the event whereof is knowne to be most certaine but because the commemoration thereof was thought to serve for speciall use not onely in regard of the manifestation of the affection of the living toward the dead he that prayed as Dionysius noteth desiring other mens gifts as if they were his owne graces but also in respect of the consolation and instruction which the living might receive thereby as Epiphanius in his answer to Aërius doth more particularly declare The obiection of Aërius was this The Commemorations and prayers used in the Church bring no profit to the dead therefore as an unprofitable thing they are to be reiected To this doth Epiphanius thus frame his answer As for the reciting of the names of those that are deceased what can be better then this what more commodious and more admirable that such as are present do beleeve that they who are departed do live and are not extinguished but are still being and living with the Lord and that this most pious preaching might be declared that they who pray for their brethren have hope of them as being in a peregrination Which is as much in effect as if he had denied Aërius his consequence and answered him that although the dead were not profited by this action yet it did not therefore follow that it should be condemned as altogether unprofitable because it had a singular use otherwise namely to testifie the faith and the hope of the living concerning the dead the faith in declaring them to be alive for so doth Dionysius also expound the Churches intention in her publick nomination of the dead and as Divinitie teacheth not mortified but translated from death unto a most divine life the hope in that they signified hereby that they accounted their brethren to have departed from them no otherwise than as if they had beene in a journey with expectation to meet them afterward and by this meanes made a difference betwixt themselves and others which had no hope Then doth Epiphanius proceed further in answering the same objection after this maner The prayer also which is made for them doth profite although it do not cut off all their sinnes yet forasmuch as whilest we are in the world we oftentimes slip both unwillingly and with our will it serveth to signifie that which is more perfect For we make a memoriall both for the just and for sinners for sinners intreating the mercy of God for the just both the Fathers and Patriarches the Prophets and Apostles and Euangelists and Martyrs and Confessors Bishâ—ps also and Anchorites and the whole order that vve may sever our Lord Iesus Christ from the ranke of all other men by the honour that we doe unto him and that we may yeeld worship unto him Which as farre as I apprehend him is no more then if he had thus replyed unto Aërius Although the prayer that is made for the dead doe not cut off all their sinnes which is the onely thing that thou goest about to prove yet doth it profite notwithstanding for another purpose namely to signifie the supereminent perfection of our Saviour Christ above the rest of the sonnes of men who are subiect to manifold slipps and falls as long as they live in this world For aswell the righteous with their involuntarie slipps as sinners with their voluntarie falls doe come within the compasse of these Commemorations wherein prayers are made both for sinners that repent and for righteous persons that have no such need of repentance For sinners that being by their repentance recovered out of the snare of the Divell they may finde mercy of the Lord at the last day and bee freed from the fire prepared for the Divell and his angells For the righteous that they may be recompensed in the resurrection of the iust and received into the kingdome prepared for them from the foundation of the world Which kinde of prayer being made for the best men that ever lived even the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Euangelists and Martyrs themselves Christ onely excepted sheweth that the profite which the Church intended should be reaped therefrom was not the taking away of the sinnes of the parties that were prayed for but the honouring of their Lord above them it being hereby declared that our Lord is not to be compared unto any man though a man live in righteousnesse a thousand times and more for how should that be possible considering that the one is God the other man as the praying to the one and for the other doth discover and the one is in heaven the other in earth by reason of the remaines of the body yet resting in the earth untill the day of the Resurrection unto which all these prayers had speciall reference This do I conceive to be the right meaning of Epiphanius his answer as suting best both with the generall intention of the Church which he taketh upon him to vindicate from the misconstruction of Aërius with the application therof unto his obiection with the known doctrine of Epiphanius delivered by him elsewhere in these terms After death there is no helpe to be gotten eyther by godlinesse or by repentance For Lazarus doth not goe there unto the rich man nor the rich man unto Lazarus neyther doth Abraham send any of his spoyles that the poore may be afterward made rich thereby neyther doth the rich man obtaine that which he asketh although hee intreat mercifull Abraham â—ith instant supplication For the Garners are sealed up and the time is fulfilled and the combat is finished and the lists are voyded and the Garlands are given and such as have fought are at rest and such as have not obtained are gone forth and such as have not fought cannot now be present in time
and such as have beene overthrowne in the lists are cast out and all things are clearely finished after that we are once departed from hence We are to consider then that the prayers and oblations for reiecting whereof Aërius was reproved were not such as are used in the Church of Rome at this day but such as were used by the ancient Church at that time and therefore as we in condemning of the one have nothing to doe with Aërius or his cause so the Romanists who dislike the other as much as ever Aërius did must be content to let us alone and take the charge of Aërianisme home unto themselves Popish prayers and oblations for the dead we know do wholly depend upon the beleefe of Purgatorie if those of the ancient Church did so too how commeth it to passe that Epiphanius doth not directly answer Aërius as a Papist would doe now that they brought singular profite to the dead by delivering their tormented soules out of the flames of Purgatorie but forgetting as much as once to make mention of Purgatorie the sole foundation of these suffrages for the dead in our Adversaries iudgement doth trouble himselfe and his cause with bringing in such farr fett reasons as these that they who performed this dutie did intend to signifie thereby that their brethren departed were not perished but remained still alive with the Lord and to put a difference betwixt the high perfection of our Saviour Christ and the generall frailtie of the best of all his servants Take away Popish Purgatorie on the other side which in the dayes of Aërius and Epiphanius needed not to be taken away because it was not as yet hatched and all the reasons produced by Epiphanius will not withhold our Romanists from absolutely subscribing to the opinion of Aërius this being a case with them resolved that if Purgatory be not admitted after death prayer for the dead must be unprofitable But though Thomas Aquinas and his abettors determine so we must not therefore thinke that Epiphanius was of the same minde who lived in a time wherein prayers were usually made for them that never were dreamed to have beene in Purgatorie and yeeldeth those reasons of that usage which overthrow the former consequence of Thomas everie whit as much as the supposition of Aërius For Aërius and Thomas both agree in this that prayer for the dead would be altogether unprofitable if the dead themselves received no speciall benefite thereby This doth Epiphanius defending the ancient use of these prayers in the Church shew to be untrue by producing other profites that redounded from thence unto the living partly by the publick signification of their faith hope charitie toward the deceased partly by the honour that they did unto the Lord Iesus in exempting him from the common condition of the rest of mankinde And to make it appeare that these things were mainly intended by the Church in her Memorialls for the dead and not the cutting off of the sinnes which they carried with them out of this life or the releasing of them out of anie torment he alledgeth as wee have heard that not onely the meaner sort of Christians but also the best of them without exception even the Prophets and Apostles Martyrs themselves were comprehended therein from whence by our Adversaries good leave we wil make bold to frame this syllogisme They who reject that kind of praying and offering for the dead which was practised by the Church in the daies of Aërius are in that point flatt Aërians But the Romanists doe reject that kinde of praying and offering for the dead which was practised by the Church in the dayes of Aërius Therefore the Romanists are in this point flatt Aërians The assumption or second part of this argument for the first we thinke no body will denie is thus proved They who are of the judgement that prayers and oblations should not be made for such as are beleeved to be in blisse doe reiect that kinde of praying and offering for the dead which was practised by the ancient Church But the Romanists are of this iudgement Therefore they reiect that kinde of praying and offering for the dead which was practised by the ancient Church The truth of the first of these propositions doth appear by the testimonie of Epiphanius compared with those manie other evidences whereby we have formerly proved that it was the custome of the ancient Church to make prayers and oblations for them of whose resting in peace and blisse there was no doubt at all conceived The veritie of the second is manifested by the confession of the Romanists themselves who reckon this for one of their Catholicke verities that suffrages should not be offered for the dead that raigne with Christ. and therefore that ancient forme of praying for the Apostles Martyrs and the rest of the Saincts is by disuse deservedly abolished saith Alphonsus Mendoza Nay to offer sacrifices and prayers to God for those that are in blisse is plainly absurd and impious in the iudgement of the Iesuite Azorius who was not aware that thereby hee did outstrippe Aërius in condemning the practise of the ancient Church as farre as the censuring it only to be unprofitable for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what shall the dead be profited thereby was the furthest that Aërius durst to goe commeth short of reiecting it as absurd and impious And therefore our Adversaries may doe well to purge themselves first from the blott of Aërianisme which sticketh so fast unto them before they be so readie to cast the aspersion thereof upon others In the meane time the Reader who desireth to be rightly informed in the iudgement of Antiquitie touching this point is to remember that these two questions must necessarily be distinguished in this inquiry Whether prayers and oblations were to be made for the dead and Whether the dead did receive any peculiar profite thereby In the latter of these he shall finde great difference among the Doctors in the former verie little or none at all For howsoever all did not agree about the state of the soules saith Cassander an indifferent Papist vvhich might receive profite by these things yet all did judge this dutie as a testimonie of their love toward the dead and a profession of their faith touching the soules immortalitie and the future resurrection to be acceptable unto God and profitable to the Church Therefore for condemning the generall practise of the Church herein which aymed at those good ends before expressed Aëâ—ius was condemned but for denying that the dead received profite thereby eyther for the pardon of the sinnes which before were unremitted or for the cutting off or mitigation of anie torments that they did endure in the other world the Church did never condemne him For that was no new thing invented by him diverse worthy men before and after him declared themselves to be of the same minde and were never for all that charged with the
least suspition of heresie The narration of Lazarus and the rich man saith the author of the Questions and Answers in the workes of Iustin Martyr presenteth this doctrine unto us that after the departure of the soule out of the body men cannot by any providence or care obtaine any profite Then saith Gregory Nazianzen in vaine shall anie one goe about to relieve those that lament Here men may have a remedie but afterwards there is nothing but bonds or all things are fast bound For after death the punishment of sinne is remedilesse saith Theodoret. and therefore S. Hierome doth conclude that while we are in this present world we may be able to helpe one another eyther by our prayers or by our counsailes but when vvee shall come before the judgement seat of Christ neyther Iob nor Daniel nor Noah can intreate for any one but every one must beare his owne burden Other Doctors were of another iudgement that the dead received speciall profite by the prayers and oblations of the living eyther for the remission of their sinnes or the easing of their punishment but whether this were restrained to smaller offences only or such as lived and died in great sinnes might be made partakers of the same benefite and whether these mens torments might be lessened only thereby or in tract of time quite extinguished they did not agree upon That Stephanus Gobarus whom before I alledged made a collection of the different sentences of the Fathers whereof some contayned the received doctrine of the Church others the unallowable opinions of certaine of the ancient that varied therefrom Of this latter kinde he maketh this sentence to be one that such sinners as be delivered unto punishment are purged therein from their sinnes and after their purging are freed from their punishment albeit not all who are delivered unto punishment be thus purged and freed but some onely whereas the true sentence of the Church was that none at all was freed from punishment If that were the true sentence of the Church that none of those who suffered punishment in the other world were ever freed from the same then the applying of prayers to the helping of mens soules out of any such punishments must be referred to the erroneous apprehension of some particular men and not to the generall intention of the ancient Church from which in this point as in manie others beside the latter Church of Rome hath swarved and quite gone astray The ancient writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie handling this matter of praying for the dead professedly doth by way of objection move this doubt to vvhat purpose should the Bishop intreat the divine goodnesse to grant remission of sinnes unto the dead and a like glorious inheritance with those that have followed God seeing by such prayers he can be brought to no other rest but that which is fitting for him and answerable unto the life which he hath here ledd If our Romish divinitie had bene then acknowledged by the Church there had beene no place left to such questions and doubts as these The matter might easily have beene answered that though a man did die in the state of grace yet was he not presently to be admitted unto the place of rest but must first be reckoned withall both for the committall of those smaller faults unto which through humane frailtie he was daily subject and for the not performance of full penance and satisfaction for the greater sinnes into which in this life he had fallen and Purgatorie being the place wherein he must be cleansed from the one and make up the iust payment for the other these prayers were directed unto God for the deliverie of the poore soule which was not now in case to helpe it selfe out of that place of torment But this author taking upon him the person of S. Pauls scholler and professing to deliver herein that tradition which he had received from his divine Masters saith no such thing but giveth in this for his answer The divine Bishop as the Scriptures witnesse is the interpreter of the divine judgements for hee is the Angell of the Lord God almightie He hath learned therefore out of the oracles delivered by God that a most glorious and divine life is by his just judgement worthily adwarded to them that have lived holily his divine goodnesse and kindenesse passing over those blots which by humane frailtie he had contracted forasmuch as no man as the Scriptures speake is free from pollution The Bishop therefore knowing these things to be promised by the true oracles prayeth that they may accordingly come to passe and those sacred rewards may be bestowed upon them that have lived holily The Bishop at that time belike did not know so much as our Popish Bishops doe now that Gods servants must dearely smart in Purgatorie for the sinnes wherewith they were overtaken through humane infirmitie he beleeved that God of his mercifull goodnesse would passe by those slipps and that such after-reckonings as these should give no stoppage to the present bestowing of those holy rewards upon the children of the promise Therâ—fore the divine Bishop saith our author asketh those things which vvere promised by God and are gratefull to him and without doubt will be granted theâ—eby aswell manifesting his own good disposition unto God who is a lover of the good as declaring like an interpreter unto them that be present the gifts that shall befall to such as are holy Hee further also addeth that the Bishops have a separating power as the interpreters of Gods judgements according to that commission of Christ Whose sinnes ye remitt they are remitted unto them and whose you shall retaine they are retained and Whatsoever thou shalt binde upon earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven And as in the use of the keyes the Schoolemen following S Hierom do account the minister to be the interpreter onely of Gods judgement by declaring what is done by him in the binding or loosing of mens sinnes so doth this author heâ—e give them power onely to separate those that are alâ—eady judged of God and by way of declaration and convoy to bring in those that are beloved of God and to exclude such as are ungodly And if the power which the Ministers have received by the foresaid commission doe extend it selfe to any further reall operation upon the living Pope Gelasius will denie that it may be stretched in like maner unto the dead because that Châ—ist saith Whatsoever thou shalt binde upon earth He saith upon earth for he that dyeth bound is no where said to be loosed and that which a man remayning in his body hath not received being uncloathed of his flesh he cannot obtaine saith Leo. Whether the dead received profite by the prayers of the living was still a question in the Church Maximus in his Greeke
away speaketh he these things as if he were tâ— goe down into hell by dying For of Hell there is a great question and what the Scripture delivereth thereof in all the places where it hath occasion to make mention of it is to be observed Hitherto S. Augustin who had reference to this great question when he said as hath beene before alledged Of Hell neyther have I had any experience as yet nor you and peradventure there shal be another way and by Hell it shall not be For these things are uncertaine Neyther is there greater question among the Doctors of the Church concerning the Hell of the Fathers of the Old Testament then there is of the Hell of the faithfull now in the time of the New neyther are there greater differences betwixt them touching the Hell into which our Saviour went whether it were under the earth or above whether a darkesome place or a lightsome whether a prison or a paradise then there are of the mansions wherein the soules of the blessed do now continue S. Hierome interpreting those words of King Ezechias Esai 38.10 I shall goe to the gates of Hell saith that this is meant eyther of the common law of nature or else of those gates from which that he was delivered the Psalmist singeth Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death that I may shew forth all thy prayses in the gates of the daughter of Sion Psalm 9.13 14. Now as some of the Fathers doe expound our Saviours going to Hell of his descending into Gehenna so others expound it of his going to Hell according to the common law of nature the common law of nature I say which extendeth it selfe indifferently unto all the dead whether they belong to the state of the New Testament or of the Old For as Christs soule was in all points made like unto ours sinne onely excepted while it was joyned with his body here in the land of the living so when he had humbled himselfe unto the death it became him in all things to be made like unto his brethren even in that state of dissolution And so indeed the soule of Iesus had experience of both For it was in the place of humaine soules and being out of the flesh did live and subsist It was a reasonable soule therefore and of the same substance with the soules of men even as his flesh is of the same substance with the flesh of men proceeding from Mary saith Eustathius the Patriarch of Antioch in his exposition of that text of the Psalme Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell Where by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Hell you see he understandeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place of humaine soules which is the Hebrewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or world of spirits and by the disposing of Christs soule there after the maner of other soules concludeth it to be of the same nature with other mens soules So S Hilary in his exposition of the 138. Psalme This is the law of humaine necessitie saith he that the bodies being buried the soules should goe to Hell Which descent the Lord did not refuse for the accomplishment of a true man and a little after he repeateth it that de supernis ad inferos mortis lege descendit he descended from the supernall to the infernall parts by the law of death and upon the 53. Psalme more fully To fulfill the nature of man he subjected himselfe to death that is to a departure as it were of the soule and body and pierced into the infernall seates which was a thing that seemed to be duâ— unto man So Leo in one of his Sermons upon our Lords passion Hee did undergoe the lawes of Hell by dying but did dissolve them by rising againe and so did cut off the perpetuitie of death that of eternall hee might make it temporall So Irenaeus having said that our Lord conversed three dayes where the dead were addeth that therein he observed the law of the dead that hee might be made the first begotten from the dead staying untill the third day in the lower parts of the earth and afterward rising in his flesh Then he draweth from thence this generall conclusion Seeing our Lord went in the midst of the shadow of death vvhere the soules of the dead were then afterward rose againe corporally and after his resurrection was assumed it is manifest that the soules of his disciples also for whose sake the Lord wrought these things shall goe to an invisible place appointed unto them by God and there shall abide untill the resurrection wayting for the resurrection and afterwards receaving their bodies and rising againe perfectly that is to say corporally even as our Lord did rise againe they shall so come unto the presence of God For there is no disciple above his master but every one shall be perfect if he be as his master The like collection doth Tertullian make in his booke of the Soule If Christ being God because he was also man dying according to the Scriptures and being buried according to the same did heere also satisfie the law by performing the course of an humane death in Hell neyther did ascend into the higher parts of the heavens before he descended into the lower parts of the earth that he might there make the Patriarches and Prophets partakers of himselfe thou hast both to beleeve that there is a region of Hell under the earth and to push them with the elbowe who proudly enough doe not thinke the soules of the faithfull to be fit for Hell servants above their Lord and disciples above their Master scorning perhaps to take the comfort of expecting the resurrection in Abrahams bosome And in the same booke speaking of the soule What is that saith he which is translated unto the infernall parts or Hell after the separation of the body which is detayned there which is reserved unto the day of judgement unto which Christ by dying did descend to the soules of the Patriarches I thinke Where he maketh the Hell unto which our Saviour did descend to be the common receptacle not of the soules of the Patriarches alone but also of the soules that are now still separated from their bodies as being the place quò universa humanitas trahitur as he speaketh elsewhere in that booke unto which all mankinde is drawne So Novatianus after him affirmeth that the very places which lye under the earth be not voyde of distinguished and ordered powers For that is the place saith he whither the soules both of the godly and ungodly are led receiving the fore-judgements of their future dâ—ome Lactantius saith that our Saviour rose againe ab inferis from Hell but so he saith also that the dead Saints shall be raised up ab inferis at the time of the Resurrection S. Cyrill of Alexandria saith that the Iewes killed Christ and cast him into the deepe
a naturall man wee understand one that is without Christ and destitute of his renewing grace by free-will that which the Philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing that is in our owne power to doe and by good a Theologicall not a Philosophicall good bonuÌ„ veré spirituale salutare a spirituall good and tending to salvation This then is the difference which Gods word teacheth us to put betwixt a regenerate an unregenerate man The one is alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord and so inabled to yeelde himselfe unto God as one that is alive from the dead and his members as instruments of righteousnesse unto God having his fruite unto holinesse and the end everlasting life The other is a meere stranger from the life of God dead in trespasses and sinnes and so no more able to lead a holy life acceptable unto God then a dead man is to performe the actions of him which is alive He may live indeed the life of a naturall and a morall man and so exercise the freedome of his Will not onely in naturall and civill but also in morall actions so farre as concerneth externall conformitie unto those notions of good and evill that remaine in his minde in respect whereof the verie Gentiles themselves which have not the Law are said to doe by nature the things contayned in the Law he may have such fruite as not onely common honestie and civilitie but common giftes of Gods spirit likewise will yeelde and in regard thereof hee may obtaine of God temporall rewards appertayning to this transitorie life and a lesser measure of punishment in the world to come yet untill he be quickened with the life of grace married to him who is raysed from the dead he cannot bring forth fruite unto God nor be accepted for one of his servants This is the doctrine of our Saviour himselfe Iohn 15.4 5. As the branch cannot beare fruite of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can yee except yee abide in me I am the Vine yee are the branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruite for without me yee can doe NOTHING that is nothing truely good and acceptable unto God This is the lesson that S. Paul doth everie where inculcate I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neyther can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned Without faith it is impossible to please God Vnto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their minde conscience is defiled Now seeing the end of the commandement is charitie out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfained seeing the first beginning from whence every good action should proceed is a sanctified heart the last end the seeking of Gods glorie and faith working by love must intercurre betwixt both the morall workes of the unregenerate fayling so fowly both in the beginning middle and end are to be accounted breaches rather of the Commandement then observances depravations of good workes rather then performances For howsoever these actions be in their owne kinde good and commanded of God yet are they marred in the carriage that which is bonum being not done bene and so though in regard of their matter they may be accounted good yet for the maner they must be esteemed vitious The Pelagian heretickes were wont here to object unto our forefathers as the Romanistes doe now a daies unto us both the examples of the Heathen vvho being strangers from the faith did notwithstanding as they said abound with vertues and S. Pauls testimonie also concerning them Rom. 2.14 15. by which they laboured to prove that even such as were strangers from the faith of Christ might yet have true righteousnesse because that these as the Apostle witnessed naturally did the things of the Law But will you heare how S. Augustine tooke up Iulian the Pelagian for making this obâ—ection Herein hast thou expressed more evidently that doctrine of yours wherein you are enemies unto the grace of God which is given by Iesus Christ our Lord who taketh away the sinne of the world bringing in a kinde of men which may please God without the faith of Christ by the law of nature This is it for which the ChristiaÌ„ Church doth most of all detest you again Be it farre from us to thinke that true vertue should be in any one unlesse he were righteous And as farre that one should be truly righteous unlesse he did live by faith for the just doth live by faith Now which of them that would have themselves accounted Christians but the Pelagians alone or even among them perhaps thou thy selfe alone would say that an infidell were righteous would say that an ungodly man were righteous would say that a man mancipated to the Devill were righteous although he were Fabricius although hee were Fabius although hee were Scipio although he were Regulus And whereas Iulian had further demanded If a Heathen man doe cloath the naked because it is not of faith is it therefore sinne Saint Augustine answereth absolutely in as much as it is not of faith it is sinne not because the fact considered in it selfe which is to cloath the naked is a sinne but of such a worke not to glory in the Lord none but an impious man will deny to be a sinne For howsoever in it selfe this naturall compassion be a good worke yet hee useth this good worke amisse that useth it unbeleevingly and doth this good work amisse that doth it unbeleevingly but who so doth any thing amisse sinneth surely From whence it is to be gathered that even those good workes which unbeleevers doe are not theirs but his who maketh good use of evill men but that the sinnes are theirs whereby they doe good things amisse because they doe them not with a faithfull but with an unfaithfull that is with a foolish and naughtie will Which kinde of will no Christian doubteth to be an evill tree which cannot bring forth but evill fruits that is to say sinnes only For all that is not of faith whether thou wilt or no is sinne This and much more to the same purpose doth Saint Augustine urge against the Heretike Iulian prosecuting at large that conclusion which hee layeth downe in his booke of the Acts of the Palestine Councell against Pelagius How much soever the works of unbeleevers be magnified we know the sentence of the Apostle to be true and invincible Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Which maketh him also in his Retractations to correct himselfe for saying in one place That the Philosophers shined with the light of vertue who were not endued with true pietie The like sentence doth Saint