exercis'd in Filthy Lusts as useless as a Sword is while it remains in the Sheath And this is the sence that the best Expositors put upon the place Beza especially is very copious and fully discusses the point proving that this Prison can in no wise be taken for Purgatory But the Reverend Dr. Hammond has most ingenuously and accurately express'd the Apostles meaning and therefore with his words I shall conclude Christ says he is an Example of suffering for well-doing in his Dying for Sins not his own but ours he being righteous died for us who were unrighteous that when we were Aliens and Enemies to God he might reconcile us to him and give us Authority to approach him wherein yet for our example and comfort it must be observ'd that tho' as a Man cloath'd in our Flesh he was put to Death and that innocently to purchase Redemption for us yet by the power of God in him he was most gloriously rais'd from the Dead and shall consequently by raising and rescuing us out of the present Sufferings and destroying all obdurate Sinners shew forth wonderful Evidences of Power and Life The very same in effect that of old he did at the time in which beyond all others he shew'd himself in Power and Majesty against his Enemies but withal in great Mercy and Deliverance to his Obedient Servants that adher'd to him I mean in the Days of the Old World when by Noah that Preacher of Righteousness he gave those treatable warnings to those that made no use of the Light of Nature in their Hearts to the Spirits or Souls of those that were then alive before the Flood which God had given them with impressions of Good and Evil but through their customs of Sin were as a Sword put up in a Sheath laid up in their Bodies unprofitably So then upon the whole matter whether the sence of the Apostle be referr'd to our Saviours Preaching by Noah to them of the Old World or by his Apostles to the Gentiles of the New is not much to the purpose this is the plain resolution of the present Quere That the word Prison here made use of is only a Metaphorical Epithet given to the Body in reference to the Soul a Comparison made of the Soul confin'd in the Body of a sinful Man with a Man lock'd up in a Prison And thus when our Saviour by his Ministers Preaches the Gospel especially to Unbelievers or Wicked Men he may be said to Preach to Spirits in Prison From what has been said then I think Purgatory can't be asserted from the words of St. Peter Whence we come to consider those of St. Paul If any Man's Work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by Fire The Apostle Verse 10 says According to the Grace of God which was given to me as a wise Master-Builder I have laid the Foundation and another buildeth thereon And Verse 12. he speaks of Two sorts of Men that build on this Foundation First those that build thereon Gold Silver and Precious-Stones and Secondly those that build thereon Wood Hay and Stubble Now says he Verse 13 Every Man's Work shall be made manifest For the Day shall declare it because it shall be reveal'd by Fire and the Fire shall try every Man's Work of what sort it is And as he goes on If any Man's Work shall abide which he hath built thereon he shall receive a Reward But if any Man's Work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss c. Which may be thus explain'd There were among the Corinthians when the Apostle writ this Epistle to 'em two sorts of Preachers some who endeavour'd nothing more than to Preach the pure simplicity of the Gospel and to feed the Flock of Christ with sound and wholsome Doctrine And others who pretended to greater parts and knowledge than other Men and these with superfluous flourishes and empty glosses endeavour'd to win the Hearts of their Hearers by their worldly wisdom as the Apostle calls it As the other studied for the preservation of a Good Conscience in the faithful discharge of their Duty so these made it their chief care to become the Peoples Favourites by being as complaisant and obliging as they cou'd and by Indulging 'em in some petty matters as they call'd 'em that the Gospel might not seem too heavy a burden to ' em They wou'd tell the People of Works of Supererogation some things they might do more than they were commanded to do and so brought in worshipping of Angels under a pretence of voluntary Humility intruding into those things which they had not seen being vainly puffed up with their fleshly minds as the Apostle testifies Col. 2. 18. And by such little tricks as these they gain'd more and more upon the giddy Affections of the multitude 'till at last they broke out into that Division which call'd for this Epistle Things being at this pass the Apostle thought it high time to think of a way if possible to put a stop to those Enormities which were so fast breaking into the Church And to this end he first mildly reproves the Corinthians for their overmuch curiosity and affection of Speculation rather than wholsome Doctrine And then heproceeds to shew 'em the vanity of such Speculative Preachers by telling 'em that he had laid the Foundation and that no Man cou'd lay another than what was laid already which was Jesus Christ Now says he If any Man builds upon this Foundation Gold Silver Precious-Stones Wood Hay or Stubble Every Man's Work shall be made manifest For the Day shall declare it because it shall be reveal'd by Fire and the Fire shall try every Man's Work of what sort it is And if any Man's Work shall abide which he hath built upon that Foundation which he had laid he shall receive a Reward That is He that shall approve himself a sincere Preacher of the Gospel that he has fed the Flock of Christ with sound and profitable Doctrine he shall in the Day of Trial have this to comfort him against all Temporal Calamities That he has Acted as a faithful Pastor ought to do and therefore though Tribulations beset him on all sides yet he is certain he whom he has serv'd is faithful and will undoubtedly perform his promise to his faithful Servants so that in the midst of the greatest Afflictions he 's sure to become more than a Conqueror and as such shall not miss of a most glorious Reward But If any Man's Work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss That is He shall in the Day of Trial be convinc'd of the invalidity and unprofitableness of his Preaching which will cause in him the pains of a guilty Conscience which commonly attend on those that have been unprofitable in their Stations and the loss of his former credit will cause him shame and a detestation of those vain and empty Opinions which before he so earnestly defended and all these
know the true God blasphemously imagin or assert against their Consciences which I think the worse of the two That help to come from the Creature which can only come from the Creator May not we on better Grounds deisy our Physicians But these things they 'll venture to deny tho' they are easily prov'd that which they chiefly acknowledge in this Point is their praying to Saints and Angels to pray for them or as some say to pray to Christ to interceed for them it being arrogant Presumption for Mortals to go to Christ immediately But this is downright Gnosticism and we of the Church of England have our Saviour's own words for our Encouragement if they of the Church of Rome have not Joh. 14. 6 I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me And we know of no other Intercessor in Heaven but Christ Therefore I think it a privation of our Christian Liberty to debar us from Praying to him immediately on Pretence of too much Presumption in so doing for he himself invites all that labour and are heavy laden to come to him and he will give 'em rest Matth. 11. 28. He does not say Come to me by my Mother or by St. Michael or St. Bennet c. But Come to me directly 5. The Fifth Enquiry must be Whether there is any such Place as Purgatory The Doctrines of the Church of Rome as they have been manag'd are most of 'em so order'd as to be as suitable and conformable to the temper of Humane Nature as they well may be as might be made appear if we had time in these already spoken to But above all the Doctrine of Purgatory is as obliging and complaisant to Flesh and Blood as any thing can be For this takes off all necessity of a strict and restrain'd life here needs no mortifying our Members which are upon the Earth as the Apostle's advice was Men need not be so fearful of pleasing their Appetites as they should be if they were to follow the rigid Precepts of our Saviour or St. Paul. But the Epicuroean Principle will make a Man happy here in gratifying the Lusts of the Flesh and hereafter he shall be happy in Heaven too if he has but been so frugal as to save a little Money to pay for a Catholick Burial only undergoing a little Frixation or Roasting by the way That this is the genuine Explication of the Doctrine of Purgatory as it is receiv'd and propagated in the Roman Church might be made appear by many good Consequences if I had time and it was worth the Pains to consider every Particular But 't is done at large already by an Excellent Hand and the Business of the present Undertaking Dr. Stil Idol of the Church of Rome is not so much to that as to Enquire whether there is any such Place as Purgatory or no There are but two Texts in the New Testament that can with any colour be urg'd to this purpose One is 1 Pet. 3. 19. where 't is said that Christ went and Preach'd to the Spirits in Prison And the other 1 Cor. 3. 15 If any mans works shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire On these two Texts this Doctrine is built If therefore I can make it plain that neither of these Texts are to the purpose I think I shall have little more to do than to deny the Doctrine to be true forasmuch as in any Matter of Dispute the Affirmative ought to be prov'd before the Negative I begin then with the first 1 Pet. 3. 19. In the foregoing Verse the Apostle tells us that Christ hath once suffer'd for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quicken'd by the spirit And then adds By which also he went and preach'd to the spirits in Prison From whence most Expositors gather that what our Saviour is said to do here he did after his Resurrection As if the Apostle had said He was put to Death in the Flesh but was quicken'd or rais'd again by the Spirit and after that he went by the same Spirit or Power that quicken'd him and Preach'd to the Spirits in Prison And that the word Prison here can't mean Purgatory will more plainly appear if we follow the Apostle as he goes on By which also he went and Preach'd to the Spirits in Prison which sometime were Disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the Days of Noah while the Ark was preparing wherein few that is Eight Persons were saved by Water The like Figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ c. We read Gen. 6. 3. that God said My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh yet his Days shall be an Hundred and Twenty Years The Deluge was determin'd for the Sins of the Old World yet God of his Mercy wou'd give 'em so long time as One Hundred and Twenty Years to Repent in and sent Noah to Preach Repentance and Threaten Destruction to all that wou'd not amend their Lives Whence this of the Apostle has been interpreted of Christ's Preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles by his Apostles after his Resurrection when he had sent his Spirit among ' em And so those that wou'd not repent at the Preaching of the Gospel shou'd one Day perish by Fire as they of the Old World did by Water for not Repenting at the Preaching of Noah For as Christ was then reveal'd in a flood of Water so he will again be revealed in flaming Fire to take Vengeance on them that obey not his Gospel But they that wou'd repent and be obedient to his Gospel shou'd be saved by Baptism as Noah was in the Ark yet not merely from a Temporal Punishment but from Everlasting Destruction Now to make the Prison here spoken of Purgatory is to say in effect that those that were destroy'd by the Deluge of the Old World have remain'd ever since in this Purgatory 'till our Saviour's Crucifixion and that in one of the Three Days in which he lay in the Grave he went and Preach'd the Gospel of Repentance to them But this can't be made deducble from the words of the Apostle but rather the contrary For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Prison signifies any kind of Receptacle whatever a Sheath for a Sword as well as a Gaol for Prisoners and as properly the Body of a Man wherein the Soul is kept as any thing else any thing containing is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Prison in reference to the thing contain'd So that Christ's Preaching to the Spirits in Prison here is nothing else but either the Preaching of Noah to those of the Old World or of his Apostles to the Gentiles of the New whose Souls were penn'd up in their Bodies which were
though the sence of the Text may be hid in a Figure But he that can assert the Doctrine of Purgatory from such a Text as this may as well say that the Apostle was a Mason or Carpenter because he calls himself a Builder or that he Preach'd to Houses and Walls because he calls the Corinthians God's Building or that our Saviour himself was a Stone because he is expresly call'd the head stone of the corner But whither wou'd such absurdities hurry us I assure you Madam 't is very unreasonable to suppose the Doctrine from such a Text as this and I think they can find none plainer than one of these two Which being made thus plain to the contrary I shall only briefly hint a few Texts against the particular Doctrine of Purgatory and so conclude this Point Eccl. 11. 3. If the clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the Earth and if the tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall lie This Text is a Metaphorical intimation of the state of the Soul after this life As a Tree that is falling must fall one way either to the South or to the North c. So the Soul when it leaves the Body must go to some certain place and as the Tree shall remain in the place where it fell so the Soul must abide in the place whither she first goes when she leaves the Body But the Preacher is more plain to the purpose Chap. 12. 7. where he says The Dust that is Man's Body shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it And the Prophet says Isai 57. 3. The Righteous shall enter into Peace Now according to the Practice of the Church of Rome in this particular unless the special favour of the Bishop of Rome intervene all both good and bad must pass through Purgatory in order to their Perfection tho' according to the Doctrine of the first Query they may be more than perfect before they come thither But what then becomes of the many Promises made to the Godly both in the Old and New Testaments if before they can enjoy the Rewards promis'd they must undergo so severe a Punishment by the way Revel 14. 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth And if there is any such place as Purgatory wherein the best of Men must endure Torment for a Time how can the Blood of Christ be said to cleanse any from all Sin 1 Joh. 1. 7 Certainly God does not require that his Servants shou'd pass through the Fire to purify 'em and make 'em fit for Heaven after they are wash'd in the Blood of his Son. We are taught by the Apostle Heb. 9. 14 that the Blood of Christ purges our Consciences from dead Works but we quite destroy the belief of this if we admit the least thought of any other Purgation Our Saviour tells us Joh. 3. 18. that He that believeth on him is not condemned And if God does not condemn 't is hard to think he 'll punish which he must do if the best of Men must pass through Purgatory before they can come to Heaven But we can meet with no such place in the Scriptures We find but two ways mention'd a narrow and a broad a strait gate and a wide into one of which we must enter And the Apostle says expresly All shall appear before the Judgment 2 Cor. 5. 10. seat of Christ there to receive according to what we have done in the Body and then certainly if there is any such place as Purgatory God must be thought unjust in calling Men to account for their Sins when they are purg'd from ' em But 't is much safer to believe there is no such place Virgil indeed tells us of some such kind of place in the Sixth Book of his Aeneas in his Account of Aeneas's Progress into the infernal World to visit his Father When he came to the Stygian shore he saw Old Charon about his wonted Bus'ness plying the Oars to carry such over as came thither for Passage But he saw some miserable Ghosts on the Banks and in dark Woods thereabouts to whom the old Ferry-man was very surly and deny'd 'em Passage tho' without doubt they 'd have paid him as well for his pains as others did Aeneas as we may suppose was amaz'd at this partiality and ask'd his Guide What was the meaning of Charon ' s rough behaviour to those poor Souls To which she answers Those you see him take into his Boat are buried and by that means challenge his Service But those he beats away are not None must pass these Streams 'till the Ceremonies of their Funeral are perform'd but they must abide in these dismal Shades on this side the River an Hundred years unless they are buried sooner and then I suppose buried or not buried they obtain their Passage Then the Poet sets down a Dialogue between Aeneas and his old Pilot Palinurus who being unfortunately cast away was kill'd in Italy and by the cruel Murtherers left unburied for which reason he must be confin'd to this Purgatory 'till those People mov'd by Prodigious Omnes shou'd Solemnize his Funeral Now not to make a Parallel between this Fiction of the Poet and the Purgatory of the Church of Rome I shall only tell you that I have seen the place represented by them of that Church not much unlike it They have a River in which many are plung'd up to the Neck and labouring very hard to get out at one side of the River is Hell's mouth open to terrifie the poor Souls and over their heads Heaven for their Encouragement Whether they intend this River for Styx or Acheron is not to the purpose 't is enough to suppose the Doctrine of Purgatory very ancient because in vogue with the ancient Romans before Christ's coming into the World tho' of late years it has got a Name which it wanted before and as it was formerly known by the Stygian shore Black shades c. now Purgatory is the Proper name of the place and is therefore deservedly written with a Capital P. 6. The Sixth Enquiry proposed was Whether the Mass is a Sacrifice for the Quick and Dead This Doctrine is built upon the other of Purgatory and 't is to be deliver'd from that place that Men are so willing to trade for Masses and Indulgences which has added so much to the Revenue of the Church that it can now very hardly be laid aside But I have often thought it strange that Men professing Christianity shou'd be so far bewitch'd to Gain as to deny the Efficacy of Christ's Sufferings For if Indulgences will make amends for Sin and the Mass atone for unrighteousness what becomes of the All-sufficiency of Christ's Merits the Satisfaction made by his Death What need have Men to go