body that should have been hâ—…ly and spotless not suffering any defilâ—…ment to have come to thy temple 〈…〉 Cage wherein were all manner of uâ—…clean birds a stie full of nothing 〈…〉 filthy swine spent that portion thoâ—… gavest me with a Harlots Lord how have I trampled under mâ—… feet that holy Ordinance of thy Maâ—…riage in not being thankfully conteâ—…ted with what thou out of thine infiniâ—… wisdom createdst for man in the begiâ—…ning one woman that they twain migâ—… be one flesh the which being nothing leâ—… Gen 2 18. 24. then a figure of that heavenly intenâ—…ment of thine the Son of thy love Chriâ—… Jesus one Spouse or beloved But despised and slighted this thy institutioâ—… choosing rather to follow the voice oâ—… Satan and my own base lustful heart anâ—… from thence concluded 't was lawful foâ—… me to have more than one Wife anâ—… not only consented within me to this abomination and violation of this thy law but brought it forth into action taking into my bosome another besideâ—… my wife nay herein redoubling my iniquity taking even one that was then Wife of another man And not only â—…one all this wickedness in thy sight â—…t called this my detestable abominaâ—…on righteous and good contending â—…r it before men though it be that â—…hich the very heathens abhor and â—…e very brand and character of those â—…hom thou intendest shall never â—…e thy face thy love thy son Heaven â—…d happiness but for ever be cast â—…th into utter darkness as the Apostle â—…ul said to the Corinthians Know ye 1 Cor. 6. 9. â—…t that the unrighteous shall not inâ—…rit the kingdom of God be not deâ—…ved neither fornicators nor Idolaâ—…s nor adulterers c. Shall inherit â—…e Kingdom of God c. Yet O! Lord herein have I sinned aâ—…nst Heaven and done all this wickâ—…ess in thy sight notwithstanding I Luke 12. 47. 2 Chron. 30. 9. Jer. 32. 40. â—…ew thy will yet I did it not though â—…as one that thou settest before thee 〈…〉 thy delight to dandle in the lap of 〈…〉 Love from whom thou intendest â—…er to turn thy face even here beâ—…e thee have I sinned and done all this â—…ckedness in thy sight though I knew â—…u wast a God from whom no thought â—…ch less action could be hid Lord â—…at shall I say my sins are as the sands â—…he â—â—a who can number them So vile so wretched am I as I am nâ—… worthy to be called thy Son nâ—… worthy any more to sit at thy table yet Lord I will fain be entertainedâ—…gain into thy house though but as oâ—… of thy hired servants but a door-keâ—…per though but as one that must nâ—… go into thy house to behold and partaâ—… of thy rich mercies but stand at tâ—… door for 't is better Lord to be a dooâ—… Psa 84. 10 keeper in thy house than to dwell 〈…〉 the Tents of wicked Men. But when he was yet a great way 〈…〉 his Father saw him c. I had 〈…〉 gone far in confession and forsakiâ—… but was hedged up by my iniquitieâ—… ready to be swallowed up by them eveâ—… moment so that if I went into 〈…〉 field into the World there presenâ—… one object or other presented it self my base lustful eye which like thorâ—… pricked and wounded my heart to bâ—… hold if I looked into my garden 〈…〉 heart which should have bin filled wâ—… all precious flowers of divine pleasurâ—… Pro. 34. 24. behold there was nothing but nettâ—… nothing but restlesness and unquietâ—… stinging and wounding me nay furthâ—… if I Looked about my heart behoâ—… the stone-wall was broken down Prayer watchfulness nay all power which formerly I had against sin and corruption whereby in some measure they were subdued and kept under in me was now broken down so that now I was ready to be led away with every lust But even while I was thus far off from my body being the Temple of the Holy Ghost as it was become the Temple of Idols a cage of unclean 1 Cor. 6. 19. birds My father saw me and not only so but had compassion on me was pleased even when my Spirit was ready to fall before him with power to bring that saying to my heart Malachi 3. 6. I am the Lord and I change not therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed appearing indeed a God of truth who said He would not always contend with man lest his spirit should fall before him but delights rather in Gen. 6. 3. shewing mercy even when I was crying out in my own heart from the sight of my being ready every moment to be carried away with one temptation or other My God hath forsaken me bringing that saying with power to my heart Isai 50. from the first to the fourth Thus said the Lord where is the bill of your mothers divorcement whom I have put away or to which of Creditors is it I have sold you Behold for your iniquities have you sold your selves and for your transgressions is your mother put away Wherefore when I came was there no man When I called was there none to answer Is my hand shortned at all that it cannot redeem Or have I no power to deliver Behold at my rebuke I dry up the sea I make the rivers a wilderness their fish stinketb for water and dyeth for thirst I cloath the Heavens with darkness and make Sackcloath tbeir covering All which was unfolded before me thus O foolish man why dost thou say God hath forsaken thee hath sold and given thee up to thy own lusts and to Satan divorced thee from being the Spouse and beloved of his Son who saith so where is the Bill which lust nay the devil himself let him if he dare if he can produce the Bili which of my Creditors is it to whom I have sold thee Behold look well about you consider you will find you are mistaken you charge me falsly for your iniquities have you sold your selves you will find all the fault is in you what is done you have done your self you have sold your self the distance that is between us your iniquities have made 't is they have separated between you and your God. Wherefore when I came was there no Man What was the reason think ye that I so often by my word and spirit called to and within you and you made me no answer If I had been the cause of your being gone why then should I call and what was the reason there was none to answer but only your being separated by your iniquities being taken up with them you became regardless of my calls Is my hand shortned at all that I cannot redeem you know I was able to redeem you out of and from your corruptions and what is the matter now have you tryed me and found me unable now to redeem you is my hand shortned Is there any reason why you should not come to me Or have not I power to deliver what
sleight Works shall be saved as by Fire he clearly declared the Doctrine of Purgatory unless you be more illuminated than S. Basil and S. Ambrose who have judged it so for the first saith He threatneth the Soul not with Destruction but Purgation And the other plainly expresseth He speaks of the Pains of Fire which God had appointed to purifie Souls And the objection is as frivolous to say as by fire and not by fire as when S. John wrote in the first Chapter of his Gospel That Men saw Jesus as the only Son of God that he were only a Figure of it not a Truth or as when S. Paul witnesseth he was found as a man we might infer he were no 2 Chap. to the Philip. man. Doth not S. Bernard prove our Doctrine from S. Bernard's 66. Hom. upon the Cant. the mention of One Sin which shall never be remitted either in this World or in the otber Doth In S. Matthew Chap. 12. not the Evangelist himself mention a Prisoner which shall be put into a Place from whence he shall not come till he have paid the last Penny. Whereupon S. Cyprian says plainly it is one thing to be a long time purged for Sins by the Torment of Fire another by the Purgation which is made by the Passion of Tobit Chap. 4. Jesus Christ What is written of Bread to be put upon 32 Hom. upon S. Mat. the Graves of the Dead S. Chrisostome referreth to the Custom of the 〈◊〉 Church which called both the Priests and the Poor purposely to pray for the Dead The solemn Fast made for Saul S. Bede makes no question but it was for the quiet The 4th of Kings of his Soul. And the Great S. Austin cryeth My God Aug. in Psal 37. make me such in my Life that I may not need the Fire of Purgatory after my Death But grant the force of these reasons you 'll say you understand not where this Purgatory is and how Souls are there Tormented Now School Divines commonly place Purgatory in a subterranean Place of which there is great probability It may also be That Souls may be purged in the Air in the sphere of Fire and in divers parts of the Elementary World according to the Opinion of S. Gregory Nysâ—n S. Chrysostom and S. Gregory the Great Nevertheless the Church walking warily in its Ordonances ever grounded on the Word of God only obligeth us to hold as an Article of Faith a Third Place for the Purgation of Souls which is neither Paradice nor Hell. As for the Circumstances of the Place and manner of sensible Torments it hath Decreed nothing thereof as an Article of our Belief It dependeth on the Prerogative of God's Power and the Ministry of Angels As for Punishments it is most certain the first consisteth in suspension from the sight of God a matter very dolorous to the Soul which being out of the Body and far absented from its source naturally desireth to rejoyn it self to God and the least retardation it feels from such Felicity is most sensible unto it The second is the pain of sense which is exercised by Fire and sometimes also by other ways If you say you cannot comprehend how a material thing worketh on a spiritual I ask of you again this Soul which is in your Body is it of any other kind than those in Purgatory And yet see you not how it daily suffereth in the Body See you not how all the Dolours of Mortal Flesh rebound back again by a most necessary amorous Sympathy to the bottom of our Soul Is it not true our Soul containeth in it the root of Understanding and all sensible Knowledge framed and accomplished by help of the Bodies Organs Is it not true that being in the Body it understandeth and feeleth with dependance on the Body And when separated it certainly understandeth with independance of the Body And tho there is no more Corporal organ which is as the Chariot of feeling yet surely God may by his Power supply the Organ of Body and necessitate the Soul immediatly to feel the sharpness of fire as if it were still in the Body And further the fire not being contrary of its nature to the Spirit might for all that be chosen and appointed by the singular Disposition of Providence to be unto the Soul an Afflicting sign in that it representeth to it in its flames the Anger of an Offended God. But hoping you are now prety well convinc'd of the Truth of our Doctrine in this point I shall trouble you no farther at this time than with one Example of the Apparition of Souls in Purgatory But first let me mind you that he who believes nothing above Nature will not believe a God of Nature How many Extraordinary things are there with whose effects Experience has made us acquainted and yet of which God hideth the reasons from us Who can tell why the Theamede which is a kind of Adamant draweth Iron on the one side and repelleth it on the other Why do the forked Branches of the Nut Tree turn towards Mines of Gold and Silver Why do Bees often die in the Hives after the Death of the Master of the Family unless they be elsewhere transported Why doth a dead Body cast forth bloud in the presence of the Murderer Why do certain Fountains in the current of their Waters and in their Colour carry presages of Seasons as that of Blomuza which waxeth red when the Country is menaced with War Why has so many Noble Families certain signs that never fails to happen when some one of the Family is to dye The Commerce of the living with the Spirits of the Dead is a matter very Extraordinary but not impossible to the Father of Spirits who holdeth total Nature between his hands But to come to the point Histories tell us the Apparition of Souls in Purgatory are so frequent that he who would keep an account may as soon number the Stars in the Skye or leaves on the Trees But as it is not fit to be too credulous in all may be said there upon so a man must be very impudent to deny all is spoken of it and to oppose as well the Authority of so many great Personages as the Memory of all Ages Now for the present I shall only single out one instance to you Peter of Clugny surnamed the Venerable and in his time esteemed as the Oracle of France Who for his Wariness and scrupulous Consideration in these Matters cannot but be thought of unquestion'd Authority He relateth how that in a Village of Spain named the Star there was a Man of Quality called Peter of Engelbert must esteemed in the World for his excellent Parts and abundant Riches Yet when in years coming to understand the Vanity of all Sublunary things he withdrew into a Monastery of the Order of Clugny there piously to spend the rest of his Days as the best Incense is said to
this Head of the Church stands affected he will soon guess at the foulness of the Stomach and give an account of the weak and crazy Constitution of the whole Body Ecclesiastick Do but observe the numerous and haughty Titles that he so magisterially assumes to himself as the Universal the Infallible Bishop of Rome the Head of the Catholick Church the Supreme Pastor the Holy one the Pope Christ's Vicegerent God's Vicar a Vice-god nay a God upon Earth and God knows how many more and then tell me truly whether in his Pride and number of Names he may not out-vye both Turk and Persian and at length prove as little a Christian as either of them who upon the bare Report of this usurped Authority have bestow'd on him two glorious Denominations the one calling him Rumbeg that is Prince or Lord of Rome the other Rumschah King of Rome First then to begin with the Blasphemies used by several Popes themselves which are so great that if Profaneness it self could it assume an humane Shape would not be guilty of and Lucian that Arch-Apostate were he now alive would if compar'd to them be accounted moderate Leo the Tenth Son to the Duke of Florence was a chuck-farthing-Boy Cardinal who was thought to deserve the Red Hat at the Age of Thirteen and 〈…〉 Pope at Twenty the unerring Bishop oâ—… Christendom in hanging Sleeves who before he could write Man or of Age waâ—… Father of all the Aged and truly hâ—… verified the old Proverb Soon ripe sooâ—… rotten for what a more putrid anâ—… blasphemous Expression could be belch'â—… forth by the Devil himself than that oâ—… his who when Cardinal Bembo quoteâ—… a place out of the New Testament replied Quantum nobis profuit haec Fabulâ—… de Christo What Wealth have we gain'â—… by this Fable of Christ Was not thiâ—… becoming Christ's Vicegerent And afteâ—… a Dispute de Anima 't was as good 〈…〉 Sentence of the Good Soul Et redit in nihilum quod fuit ante nihil Julius the Third a mere Epicure when he was at Table with several Grandees of Rome had a Peacock serv'd in at Dinner his beloved Dish and gave strict order it should be kept cold for his Supper but it seems some of his Servants through neglect dispos'd of it otherwise now when the time of his Evening Repast came and he found it wanting he fell into so great a Chafe and Rage for this Sin of Omission in his Servitor that his Holiness was guilty of a Sin of Commission insomuch that a more moderate Cardinal one of his Guests told him that it was ill done to be so passionate and fly out into so great a Fury for so small a Trifle but he fuddenly replied If God was so angry as to expel Adam Paradise for an Apple well might he who was his Vicar be offended for the Disappointment of his Peacock which was of greater value than any Apple could possibly be The same worthy Pope missing his Pork which was one of his standing Dishes for he was a great Lover of Pork and Peacock asked the Reason of it his Steward answer'd that his Physicians had given order there should be no Pork serv'd in because it was very injurious and destructive to his Health whereat he began to fly in the very face of him whose Vicar he boasts himself to be saying Porta mi quello mio Piatto al dispetto de Dio Fetch me my Pork my Dish of Meat in spight of God himself These Words savour of more than Lucianisme Paul the Third in a Procession at Romè where the Body of Christ as they term it was with great Solemnity and seeming Piety carried before him said That if the Company did not make more haste he would renounce Christ whereupon some Persons made up to them that were in the Front with all speed and caused them to mend their Pace Nay farther Pope Paul being in an open Consistory of Cardinals boldly told by one of them that he could not bestow Palma and Piacenza on his two Bastards unless he would inevitably purchase his own Damnation To this he answer'd If St. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles had so tender an Affection for his Country-men whom he calls Brethren as to wish and desire himself to be separate from Christ so that they might obtain Salvation why may not I with as great Love and Affection to my Sons and Nephews study by all means possible to aggrandize them and make them honourable with the hazard of my own Salvation O the yearning Bowels and tender Compassion of this Holy Father to the living Monuments of his Infamy Poor cow-hearted Hugonot Where is there a Calvin Beza or Bishop among you all that dares or can show such strange and strong efforts of a noble and undaunted Spirit who for the Promotion and Welfare of his Children here dares damn his own Soul for ever hereafter Alas There 's no such Spirit among you What think you of Gregory the Seventh tho his proper name which Popes renounce at their Election was Hildebrand which signifies Fire-brand of Hell in the Tutonick Tongue as the Germans affirm and Chemnitius gives him the same Title calling him Titio Infernalis when he consulted the Oracle of his Breaden God threw it into the Fire before many Cardinals who could not withhold him because it gave him no answer as to the event of his War with the Emperour Henry the Benno Card. in the life of Hildebrand Fourth of France John Bishop of Port in a Sermon in S. Peters Church before a numerous Auditory being upon the profanation of the Blessed Sacrament said Hildebrand and we with him have done a Fact for which we Deserve to be Burnt alive meaning the forementioned Action Nay this Hostia was so Contemned and Slighted by him that he most wickedly caused Pope Victor the Second to be poisoned with the Consecrated Wine of the Holy Eucharist and yet Cardinal Bellarmine had the confidence to Justifie this Man as a Saint by Twenty seven Authors and another had the impudence to own him as a Canoniz'd Saint by two more which he throws into the Bargain to add to the former Number These are a pack of Saints of the Devils Canonizing undoubtedly What will you say of another of these Pious Arch Prelates who was the Person that caused the Emperour Henry the Seventh surnam'd of Luxemburg to be poisoned and that with the consecrated Bread given him by a Jacobine at Florence in the Eucarist And about the year 1154 his Name-sake Math. Paris P. 88. the Arch Bishop of York was poison'd in England with the Wine in the Sacrament What will the Friar's Devil do trow we if their God be so dangerous saith the learned Frenchman Stevens who composed this Huictain upon the very Subject Les Payens ne vouloyent mettre au nombre des Dieux Ceux qui an genre humain ètoyent pernicieux Si le Dieu de Paste est un Dieu qui