Whether there is any such Place as Purgatory VI. Whether the Mass is a Sacrifice for Quick and Dead VII Whether the Doctrin of Transubstantiation can be maintain'd by Scripture The first Enquiry must be whether any Man can do more than he ought to do Where we are to consider That though a Man as a Christian is in the state of Grace yet he is not in the state of Innocence nor can be till he arrives at the state of Glory where all Infirmities will be done away For as he is Flesh and Blood liable to be tempted to evil and apt to commit it he must expect to meet with Afflictions and Crosses from the World without and the Suggestions and Temptations of the Devil from within And being naturally more prone to Evil than Good I think it a hard thing to say That 't is in his power to do more Good than is requir'd he should do and a harder to prove it Under the Law Men were not able to keep the Law perfectly nor to walk in the Commandments of God as they ought For Moses himself who took them from God's mouth and gave them to the Israelites err'd in so much that he must not enter the promised Land. That Text Josh 11. 15. has been objected by some Gentlemen of the Church of Rome but plainly to no purpose For any one may see that Joshua's keeping the Commandments was only his doing those things he was commanded to do in order to establish the Israelites in the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan And we find the same Joshua in another place asserting the impossibility of serving God Josh 24. 19. at least he did not believe Men could do more It may be objected That the light of the Gospel is much clearer than that of the Law and the burthen easier to be born c. But for all that 't is certain the Gospel requires as full and perfect Obedience as ever the Law did Nay it proceeds farther for under the Law Men thought it no great Crime to murther their Neighbour in his good Name so they let his Body alone They also thought it no Sin to Lust after a Woman provided they did not come to Action But under the Gospel our Saviour tells us the contrary Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment But I say unto you That whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment and whosoever shall say unto his Brother Racha shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell Fire Again Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery But I say unto you That whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart Matth. 5. 21 22 27 28. So that we may see though the Law was such a yoke as neither we nor our Fore-fathers were able to bear Act. 15. 10. yet the Yoke of the Gospel is not so light as to be run away with As easie as it is 't is very irksom to Flesh and Blood yet 't is what we must bear so long as we live and then it is God's mere Mercy if the heavier yoke of Everlasting Misery is not laid on us instead of it If Man has Free-will to do good as well as evil yet I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me And on the contrary if I do that good I would it is no more I that do it but the grace of God that is in me 1 Cor. 15. 18. I find then a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members says the Apostle Rom. 7. 18. And he at last concludes So then with the mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sin To which we may add what the same Apostle says 1 Cor. 2. 14. But the natural man that is flesh and blood receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And then certainly our Free-will can do us little good towards making us do more than we should when by reason of the stubborness of our Flesh we can't do what we would But the Apostle tells us That we are not able to do any thing of our selves but 't is God that worketh in us both to will and do after his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. And our Saviour himself says That no man can come unto him unless the Father draw him Joh. 6. 44. Therefore I think it strange that a Man should be able to do more than he can 'T is a Contradiction Certainly he that made us can tell best what we can do And he says That the heart of man is only evil continually Gen. 6. 5. 8. 21. If then we are naturally more prone to do evil than good how is it possible for us to be better than we should be And if under the Gospel we must observe every Punctilio so strictly as not to be angry with our Neighbour not to look on a Woman to lust after her c. how are we able to do all that 's required of us The Apostle St. James goes a step farther If ye fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self ye do well But if ye have respect to persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the Law as Transgressors Jam. 2. 9. To have respect to Persons in civil Conversation one would think a small matter to make one guilty of the breach of the Law but so it is And our Saviour goes farther yet Matth. 5. 43. Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy But I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you This is a hard lesson and not agreeable to Flesh and Blood yet 't is made the condition of becoming the Children of our Father which is in Heaven From what has been said we may gather That if any Man can do what he is required to do he cannot do more And if as we are told Jam.
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
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
Belial Thirdly This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as our Fathers did eat Manna and are dead he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Whence observe If one thing is to be understood according to the Letter another is also And then if the Letter intends Transubstantiation according to the Letter likewise they who eat the Flesh of Christ presently become Immortal And thus the Jews understood our Saviour when they cried out Lord evermore give us of this Bread Verse 34. But 't is appointed for all Men once to die Therefore eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood can mean nothing but our feeding on him by Faith unto Salvation And if by eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood we shall live for ever and yet no Man can be saved unless he believes in him either our Saviour must be thought to contradict himself or else this overthrows the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and proves that we only eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of Christ by Faith. And I appeal to your self Madam to judge which of the two 't is most reasonable to believe But that what our Saviour says here is not to be understood according to the Letter will appear if we pursue it a little farther Verse 60. Many therefore of his Disciples when they heard this said This is a hard Saying who can hear it When Jesus knew in himself that his Disciples murmured at it he said unto them Doth this offend you What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life But there are some of you that believe not From all which I cou'd tell you Madam and upon good ground too that there is nothing in this Chapter or very little at most touching the Eucharist but all that our Saviour says concerning his Flesh and Blood is to be understood of his exemplary Life and wholsome Doctrine which is Meat and Drink indeed But supposing the whole discourse to be upon that subject yet there can be nothing of Transubstantiation contain'd in it Which will yet more fully appear by considering how often he urges the necessity of believing on him in order to Salvation Verse 29. This says he is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent So Verse 35. He that believeth on me shall never thirst But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not Again Verse 40. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last Day So likewise Verse 47. He that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life And this believing on him in other places of the Chapter he calls coming to him as Verse 35 37 44 45. And in other places again it is call'd eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood. Whence 't is evident they are all Synonymous terms used to express one and the same thing But to proceed The Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 1. tells us that all our Fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ Now the Paschal Lamb was as lively a representation of Christ the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World as our Bread and Wine are of the breaking his Body and shedding his Blood upon the Cross yet 't was never thought that they in the Passover did eat and drink Christ's real Flesh and Blood but only in that Feast they fed on him by Faith. And so when we come duly prepar'd to the Lord's Table we are Partakers of his Body and Blood by Faith by which also Christ dwelleth in our hearts Ephes 3. 17. Our Saviour Joh. 15. 5. says I am the Vine ye are the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing Now if all our Saviour's words must be taken according to the letter which must we rather believe that his Flesh is Bread to be eaten by us as we do our ordinary Food or that he is a great Tree and we Christians are so many Branches growing from him or that we are mere Sheep feeding on a Common and he the Shepherd to look after us or lastly that he is a Door hung upon Hinges thro' which we Sheep must enter into our Pasture I wou'd fain know if all these were to be taken literally what we shou'd do to know which was true and which not Such Expressions as these must be taken Metaphorically and so As we usually enter into a House by the Door so we go to Heaven by Christ As a Shepherd takes care that none of his Sheep go astray so Christ the good Shepherd of our Souls will lose none of all them that are his As a Vine gives Nourishment to its Branches so is Christ a Vine to us by whom we live and grow ripe for a joyful Harvest or Vintage And lastly as Bread is eaten to sustain this Temporal Life so Christ is that Spiritual Food on which we feed by Faith unto life Everlasting To what has been said on this Subject we may add many Texts of Scripture which assert the Elements which are the Matter of this Feast to be the same after Consecration as they were before Thus the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 16 The cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ So again Chap. 11. v. 26 As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come But that which is chiefly insisted on is what our Lord himself said at the Institution of his Supper Matth. 26. 26. And as they were eating Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body And he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it For this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins If here is not plain Transubstantiation I know not where to find it Our Saviour himself in the presence of his Disciples takes a piece of Bread and plainly affirms that 't is his Body and shall not we believe him yes surely But what follows Vers 29 But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this Fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom I think he tells