see is flat contrary to the express Word of God In these matters concerning Marriages it is clear that their Practice is not agreeable to the sacred Word of God XII Their Doctrine of Purgatory and their Masses and Prayers and Absolutions for the delivering of men from thence are not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures And first we may see that the places alledged to prove these will prove no such thing Our Saviour hath told us Matt. 12.32 That whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world or age neither in the world or age to come But this place doth not prove that any sins shall be forgiven in another world which are not forgiven in this This only shows that no pardon at all was to be granted to this sin And so it is explained in St. Mar. 3.29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal Damnation This place in St. Matthew is clearly explained to us by the Spirit of God how we are to understand it and nothing like Purgatory we see can be drawn from it And we may see that such expressions as these in the Scriptures prove nothing at all to this purpose Our Saviour saith concerning the man that was born blind Joh. 9.3 Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents But this is no proof that other men do sin before they are born into the World Nor does this place prove that sins shall be forgiven in another world which are not forgiven in this And if some sins were to be forgiven in another World that would belong to God and men here upon earth have nothing to do to order the affairs of the World to come and are in ignorance as concerning the State and Condition of the greatest part of particular men tho' something may be known concerning a few And great arrogancy and vanity it is for men here to pretend to order the affairs of the World to come and another life Again saith our Saviour Matt. 5.25 26 Agree with thine Adversary quickly whilest thou art in the way with him lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Here our blessed Saviour doth exhort and persuade men to repent and amend their lives and to make satisfaction for all the Injuries and Wrongs that they have done to others while it may be done here in this World and lets them know that if they do not take this wise course to make satisfaction now they shall hereafter be dealt with with great rigor and severity like one that suffers the extremity of the Law and is not released from prison till he hath paid the uttermost farthing that was due from him These words till thou hast paid do not prove that such an one shall be released but are rather to be understood of lying in hell for ever But here is nothing like Purgatory and no proof that men shall be delivered from thence by Absolutions and Prayers and Masses c But this place instead of proving of Purgatory is a strong argument to prove that there is no such place For here we see that our Saviour doth exhort men to take such a course in due time that they may not be cast into prison and if they will be wise betimes and take care he sheweth that men may escape this prison and not come into it at all And when men are cast into this prison he doth plainly affirm that they cannot be discharged from thence by Absolutions nor be begged and bought out thence by Prayers and Masses c. Again we read of the Holy Jerusalem Rev. 21.27 That there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth But this is no proof at all that men must be purged in Purgatory after death And the Word of God doth plainly teach us that we are to be purged and cleansed other ways We are cleansed and sanctified by Baptism by the Word and Spirit of God and by the blood of Christ and not by Purgatory after death 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed saith St. Paul but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God And saith our Saviour Joh. 15.3 Now ye are clean thro' the Word which I have spoken unto you And Ephes 5.25 saith the Apostle Even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish And saith St. John 1 Joh. 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Here we see how men are cleansed and purified and made fit to enter into the Holy Jerusalem And here we see that there is no need of Purgatory and that men are not cleansed and purified this way but that they are purified by the Ordinances of Christ by repentance and forsaking of their sins and evil ways by being baptized into the Christian Religion and living of holy and innocent lives according to the Doctrine and Commands thereof and by the precious blood of Christ and by the Holy Spirit of God These Texts of Scripture do plainly prove to us that there is no such place as Purgatory because there is no need of it and men are not cleansed and purified by it but are purified by other ways and means Nothing like Purgatory can be gathered from this place in the Revelation chap. 21. ver 27. Again saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.18 19 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison And these Spirits the Papists would have to be in Purgatory and that Christ by his Spirit went to preach to them But this will prove nothing to their purpose For these are those sinful Wretches that were disobedient in the days of Noah and then it was that Christ preached to them by his Spirit in Noah and the righteous men in those days And thus saith St. Peter ver 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison Which some time were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing And while the long-suffering of God waited for their repentance in the days of Noah then it was that Christ preached to them by his
he might have an opportunity of doing an act of mercy and kindness to him even at that time when he came to apprehend our Lord and to take him away to be crucified And he cured his ear again that no one might have any just cause to complain that any injury or wrong was done to him by Christ or his Disciples And when his Disciples would have called for fire to come down upon the Samaritans as Elias did because the Samaritans would not entertain them perceiving that they were Jews he rebuked them and told them that he was not come to destroy mens Lives but to save them Luk. 9.54 And when his disciples James and John saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did But he turned and rebuked them and said ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of For the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them And from hence it is plain that the Disciples of the blessed Jesus ought not to destroy mens lives but to do what they well can to save them Ananias indeed and Sapphira his Wife were stricken dead upon St. Peter's admonition of them Acts 5.1 But this seems to be done by the immediate power of God and St. Peter caused no violent hand to be laid upon them And this was for a very great Crime for lying to the Holy Ghost and to God And such sins against the Holy Ghost men are not now well capable of committing except God should now vouchsafe such evidence and demonstration of the Holy Spirit as was then which is not to be expected This place cannot be any encouragement at all now to Cruelty and Bloodshed Elymas for his wickedness was stricken blind upon St. Paul's words Acts 13.11 But this seems also to be done by the immediate power of God and it is probable that he had still time to repent and God might thus afflict him that he might be brought to repentance hereby if he would St. Paul ordered that the incostruous Person at Corinth should be delivered to Satan 1 Cor. 5.5 But this was for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus That by such chastisement he might be brought to repentance and so be saved He also delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan 1 Tim. 1.20 But it was that they might learn not to blaspheme He ordered also that an heretick after the first and second admonition should be rejected Tit. 3.10 But gave Titus no command to put him to death And our blessed Saviour commanded his Apostles when he sent them forth to be harmless like Doves Matt. 10.16 Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves Our blessed Lord and his Apostles practiced nothing like this bloody Cruelty and he commanded his Apostles the quite contrary and shews that he came into the World upon no such design but for a quite contrary end And the Gospel is full of Precepts commanding the highest charity and love and goodness that can be to all men even to our enemies Matt. 5.44 saith our Saviour 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 That ye may be the Children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust And to this purpose Luk. 6.27 This universal love and charity are we to exercise that we may be the Children of God and imitate his universal love and kindness and if we do not so we shall not approve our selves to be the true Children of God And saith St. Paul Rom. 12.14 Bless them which persecute you bless and curse not And ver 20 Therefore if thine Enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good And saith he Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith or faithfulness meekness temperance These are the works of the good Spirit of God and not Bloodshed and Cruelty And saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 1.22 See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently And 1 Pet. 2.15 For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men This and not the Sword and Rack and Fire is the way that he prescribes to silence the ignorance of the foolish And 1 Pet. 4.8 And above all things saith he have fervent charity among your selves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins This fervent and universal love and charity doth the Gospel require And so far ought we to be from malice and cruelty towards others that we should rather be ready to lay down our own Lives for them when it is likely to be beneficial to them as St. John shews 1 Job 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God saith he because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren And so far is the Gospel of Christ from tolerating and giving any encouragement to such bloody Cruelty and merciless Practices that it flatly declares that Murderers shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but that they are like to perish eternally and to go to their Father the Devil that was a Murderer from the beginning as our Saviour saith Joh. 8.44 That such are not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven St. Paul shews Gal. 5.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest saith he which are these Adultery fornication Envyings murders drunkenness revelling and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And saith St. John 1 Joh. 3.15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know that no murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him For Envy and Hatred and Murder especially are men to be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven And saith St. John Rev. 21.8 But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Such bloody Murders and merciless Cruelties as are committed by the Romish Church are thus severely threatned in the Gospel and it Cries out aloud against them as directly contrary to it We are to lead holy and innocent Lives and to take great care that we do not cause the Christian Religion to be evil spoken of among Unbelievers Rom. 2.24 1 Tim. 6.1 Tit. 2.5 But such wicked and hellish Practices are the ready way to
he was expiring upon the Cross Luk. 23.46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice he said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost He commended his spirit into the hands of God the Father and thither certainly it went And by this example of the Captain of our Salvation are we taught to do the like and to commend our souls at the hour of death into the hands of Almighty God and may be sure that all righteous mens souls go thither and not into Purgatory And St. Stephen commended his spirit to our blessed Lord. Acts 7.59 And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Into the hands of our blessed Lord did he commend his spirit and there is no doubt but that thither it went even to our blessed Lord where he saw him standing at the right hand of God ver 56 and not into any Purgatory And St. Paul concluded that he should be with Christ as soon as he was dead and Christ is at the right hand of God as the sacred Scriptures testifie 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident I say saith he and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And Phil. 1.23 For I am in a strait betwixt two saith he having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better He concluded that when he departed hence he should be with Christ And Christ is at the right hand of God as these places shew Rom. 8.34 Ephes 1.20 Col. 3.1 St Paul doth plainly shew that righteous men go to Heaven as soon as they dye and depart hence and that they go not to any such place as Purgatory And as for Elijah we are told that he went body and soul strait away to Heaven 2 King 2.11 And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven Here we plainly see that Elijah was carried strait away by this whirlwind into Heaven both body and soul and went not to be purified first in any Romish Purgatory We read also of Enoch that God took him Gen. 5.24 And this doth shew that God took him to himself and that he sent him not to any Romish Purgatoy And we may see that the Penitent Thief went immediatly into the Paradise of God Luk. 23.42 And he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Jesus said unto him verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The Penitent Thief was immediately after his death to be with our blessed Lord and therefore not in any Purgatory but in the Paradise of Heaven a place of joy and happiness 2 Cor. 12.2 It is clear that righteous men immediately after death go to a place of joy and happiness and are not to be tormented in any Purgatory And as for the Wicked they are like to go to Hell a place of torment and misery and are not like to be released from thence at all This is shewed by the Parable of the Rich man that the Wicked immediately after death go to Hell and are like to abide there for ever Luk. 16.22 The rich man also died and was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments Here we see that he went presently to Hell a place of torments And he could obtain no ease nor comfort and no release from this place Ver. 24 And he cried and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame But Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence Here it is plain that he could obtain no ease nor comfort and that this small request would not be granted him And by the Gulf here Abraham sheweth that it was not in his power to help and relieve him and that his condition was not to be altered And in the verses following he desireth that his Brethren at his Father's house might be warned to take care in time that they came not into this place of torment but he doth not desire that they or any persons else upon earth should pray for him For if it were not in Abraham's power to help him much less in theirs And it doth appear that the torments of Hell are everlasting and that there is no help for men when they are there Matt. 18.8 saith our Saviour Than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire And Matt. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire And ver 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment And Mar. 9.43 Than having two hands to go into Hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched And Rev. 14 11. saith St. John And the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever And they have no rest day nor night who worship the Beast and his Image And Rev. 20.10 And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever By these and such places it doth appear that the Wicked are like to be tormented in Hell for ever and are not to be released from thence And that all Prayers and Masses and Papal Absolutions will signifie nothing at all to them and cannot deliver them from thence And now seeing all men are ranked under these two sorts of Righteous and Wicked seeing there are but two places and states to go to after death viz. Heaven and Hell seeing the Righteous after death upon their departure hence go into Heaven a place of joy and happiness and the Wicked go to Hell where they are to abide for ever and from whence they cannot be delivered It is from hence also manifest that there is no such place as the Romish Purgatory and that it is a meer fiction and sinful delusion It it clear that the Doctrine and Practice of the Romish Church concerning Purgatory are not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures and that a multitude of places therein do bear testimony against them XIII Their selling of Pardons and Indulgences for Money is not agreeable to the blessed Word of God The sacred Scriptures do shew that there is no Pardon to be had for mens sins except they repent of them and forsake them and become new and reformed men And