I make theime faire play the grounde is open the reasons laide naked before theire face remoue theime as they can Lett theime deale simply if they meane truely and not flourishe as they vse vppon a faulse grounde that in flowe of worddes they may couer errour or in rase of theire smoothe talk ouerron trueth And that euery man may perceiue that wee haue not raysed this doctrine vpoÌ„ reason onely or curiosity althoughe the graue authoritye of Goddes Churche might herein satisfye sober wittes we will now by Goddes helpe go nearer the matter and directly make proufe of Purgatory by holy scriptures reciting such placeis of the oulde and newe testament as shall prooue oure cause euen in that sense whiche the lernedst and godlyest fathers of all agies by conference of placies or other lyklyhood shall fiende and determine to be most true Alleaging none els but such as they haue in the floure of Christian faith noted and peculiarely construed for that purpose whiche now is in quaestion That the aduersaries off that doctrine may rather striue withe the saide sanctes and doctours then withe me that will as they shall well perceiue doo nothing but truely reporte theire wordes or meaninge Or rather that such as haue erred in that case by giuing ouer light credit to the troblesom teachers of these vnhappy daies maye when they shall vnderstande the true meaning of the scrptures the constant doctrine of the Catholike Church the wordes of all auncient writers the determination of so many holy councells and the oulde vsage of all nations by humble praiers obteyne of God the light of vnderstanding the truethe and the gifte of obedience to his will and worde Or if there be any so sattled in this vnlickly secte that he purposeth not to beleue the graue writers of ould times nor receiue theire expositions vpon suche placeis as we shall reciete for that praeiudice whiche he hathe of his owne witte and vnderstanding yet let him not maruell at my simplicity that had rather geue credet to others then my selfe Or that in this hote time of contention and partaking in religion I doo repose my sellfe vnder the shadowe of so many worthy writers as anone shall giue euidence in my cause That Purgatory paines doothe not onely serue Goddes iustice for the poonishment of sinne but also cleanse and qualify the soule of man defiled for the more seemely entraunce into the holy placies vvith conference of certaine placies of scripture for that purpose Cap. 6. IF we well consider the wonderfull base condition and state of mannes nature corrupted by our first fathers disobedience and more and more abased by continuall misery that sin hath broght in to oure mortall liefe we shall fiende the woorke of Goddes wisdom in the excellent repaire of this his creature to be full of mercy and full of maruell But proceading sumwhat further and weying not onely his restoring but allso the passing greate auaunsment to the vnspeakable glory of the elect there shall reason and all oure cogitations vtterly faint and faile vs. The kingdom prepared is honoured with the maiesty of the Glorious Trinity with the humanity of Christe oure Sauiour with the blessed Mary the vessel of his Incarnation with the bewtifull creatures and wholy vndefiled of al the ordres of Angelles Ther can nothing doubtlesse present it selfe before the seate of Goddes glory nor stand in his sight that hath any blemishe of sinne any spotte of corruption any remnaunt of infirmity There may no creature matche with those perfect pure natures of spirituall substance in the happy seruice of the holy Trinity VVhat purity is required for thentrance in to hâ—â—ueÌ„ that is not holy as they be pure as they be and wholy sanctified as they be Nothing can ioyne with theyme in freedom of that heauenly city in the ioyfull estate of that triumphant coÌ„monwellthe that is not purified to the poynt and by the woorke of Goddes own hande fully fined and perfieted This is the newe City of Hierusalem whiche the holy Apostle sawe by vision Nec in eam intrabit aliquid coinquinatum Apoc. 21. Nothing shall entre therin that is defiled It is the Churche with oute spotte and wrinkle it is the temple of God it is the seate of the lambe and the land of the lyuing Nowe our kinde notwithstanding oure pitifull faulle and singulare fraylety with exceding corruption and vnaptenesse bothe of body and soule hathe yet by Christe Iesus oure redemer the assurance of this vnestimable benefite and the felowship of perpetuall fruition with the Angels To whome as we must be made aequall in roume and glory so we must in perfect cleanes be fully matched with theime For it were not agreeable to Goddes ordinary iustice Leuit. 21. who in this earthly sanctuary expressely forbiddeth the oblations of the vncleane Rupert de diuiâ—iâ— of l. 6. ca. 36. that he shoulde in the coelestiall soueraigne holy acknouledge any nature that wer not pure and vndefiled or make mannes condicion not abettered aequall to the dignity of Angelles that neuer were reproued wherby vniustice might appeare in God or confusion in the heauens commonweleth where onely all ordre is obserued And though mannes recouery after his faule be wroght by Christ and the perfect purgation off sinnes by the bloodde of him that onely was with owte sinne yet it was nott conuenient that the might of that mercy should woorke in this freedom of oure willes with owte all payne of the party or trauell of th offenders Wheroff man streght vpon his miserable dounefall as S. Ambrose excellentely well noteth had warning by the fyery swhord houlden at the entraunce of paradise In psa 118 ser 20. therby putting him in remembraunce that the returne to blesse so soone loste shoulde be throghe fiere and swhorde hardely achieued ageyne Therfore if any man thinke the onely forgiuenesse of oure sinnes paste sufficient ether for the recouery of oure first degree or the atteyning of forther dignity in the glory of the Sanctes he seethe not at all what a deape stroke sinne hath sett in mannes soule what filthe and feeblenesse it hathe wroght in the body what ruele and dominion it beareth in this our mortality what care all perfect men haue hadde not onely in the healing of the deape wounde but allso in purging the reliques and full abbating the abundant matter therof And yet when man hathe with all his might wrastled with the poure of sinne being in this estate he can not be able to recouer the worthinesse of his creation muche lesse the passing honour and ende of his redemption Let him washe and water his coutch with teares let him weaken his body with fasting and humble his hearte with sorow Happely the fiery swhorde shall not hinder his passage after his departure yet tyll the separation of the body and the soul full freedom from sinne or perfect purgation therof excepting the priuilege of certayne can not be fully
the vnworthinesse of these our dooleful daies and bewailed his own misery as we shoulde doo oures Ita Policarp ex Iren. crying owt with an oulde blessed father O Deus bone in quae me seruasti tēpora vt ista blasphema sustineā O Lorde that I shoulde be reserued for these times to abide suche blasphemie victor de persecut vandal Victor reporteth in his history of the persecution of the vandalles that were Arians that the Gouernour of that cursed company of cruel haeretikes would not suffer the christian men whome he had slaine to be broght home withe seruice and sacrifice but then the good people woonderfully bewailed theire case seeing theim practise cruelty vpon theire soules allso in that they would not suffer theime to enioye at their departure and buriall the rites of goddes church Thus saithe that Author Quis vero sustineat atque possit sine lachrimis recordari dum praeciperet nostrorum corpora defunctorum sine solemnitatehimnorū cum silentio ad sepulchra perduci O Lord who coulde haue fownd in his heart to be houlde then or could yet once thinke of it withe owte teares how he gaue in charge that the bodies of our brethern departed should be broght to the graue and buried with owte all solemnity of himnes in silence and sorowe Ecclesi Cap. 7. It was euer giuen to wicked hard harted haeretiques to prohibere gratiam mortuis to be vnmercifull and to staie the fauoure of good men from the departed epist 8. li. 2. Nouatus as S. Cyprian chargeth him noluit patrem fame defunctū sepelire would not bury his owne father deade of honger bane But to let suche men passe withe the praesent bewayling of our vnhappy dayes let vs with more conforte behould the steppes of good men past how kindely and brotherlyke they haue principally procured the holy sacrifice for they re frendes and felowes gone before For seeing the onely prayers of good men haue bene proued so profitable and the repraesentation of som holy workes of almose hath often moued God to pity as we haue proued towards the release of the departed his payne what may we not hope to obteyne for oure britherne deceased when we shal ioyne in prayers withe the holy angelles with the blessed sanctes with Goddes holy ministers in the representation of Christes most blessed body and bloude before the face of his father when the whole churche of god in that honorable action prayethe and Christe him selfe is both the sacrifice and the priest both the asker and the geuer of pardon when the maiesty of God the blessed trinitye is passingly pleaced by the merites of Christes deathe so liuely set out in these honorable but vnspeakable mysteries what may we not here procure for the soule of the churchies childe what shal be denied to so humble askers in the praesence of goddes own son and begging mercy for his deathes sake And so doth S. Chrisostom assure the faithfull in these goulden wordes Non frustra ab apostolis sancitum est vt in celebratione vener andorū mysteriorum memoria fiat eorum qui hinc discesserunt Homil. 3. in epistolā ad philipp nouerunt quippe illis multum hinc emolumenti fieri multū vtilitatis stante siquidem vniuerso populo manus in coelos extendente coetu item sacerdotali verendoque proposito sacrificio quomodo deum non placaremus pro istis orantes Yt was not for noght that the apostles decried and ordeined that in the celebratiō of the honorable mysteries there should be an especiall memoriall of the departed for they right well knewe greate commodity and benefite to arise ther vpon For the whole multitude houlding vp theire handes towards heauen together with the company and quiere of priestes and the dreadfull sacrifice set furth before all men howe is it possible but we shoulde appeace goddes wrath praying for theim loke ye what this mannes iudgement was and see from whense he had it euē of the holy apostles I warraunt yowe and no worse nor latter fownders But of that pointe for the full deriuing of our christian vsage frō the first fathers of our faith more cōuenient place shal be geuen herafter Nowe I wil serue the cause and the readers desire first withe certaine peculiare examples of most learned and godly fathers worthy of all credet in the godly prouision for certeine of theire dearest frendes by sacrifice and praier both made by theim selues and procured by others That we may haue here not onely whom to beleeue teaching the truethe but whome to folowe practising the same with deuotion which they preached withe cōstancye before That the practise of any pointe in religion maketh the most open shevve of the fathers faith And that all holy men haue in plaine vvordes and most godly praiers vttered their beliefe in our matter Cap. 9. ANd I take the open practise of any point to be a more pithy protestation of a mānes faithe thē by words cā be made Therfore if a mā were doubtful ether of the trueth of any article or of the meaning of sum doctours wordes looke the same mannes practise and it shall put him owt of doubt thereof streght wayes as for an example seeme sum wordes of S. Augustin to make for the sacramentaries haeresie that Christe is in the honourable sacrament but by a figure or Theodoretus or any other auncient fathers declaratiō are their wordes doubtful to the reader leaue the wordes thē if thowe syncerely seeke for truethe with owte contention and seeke owte if thowe can sum practise of those same men and that Churche where they liued for the same point But what way of worke in this matter consisting in doctrine may assure vs of theire beliefe of whose wordes we doubted before Theodor. dial 2. August super psal 98. Dionis ecclesiast hierarch Cap. 3. Basil de spiritu sanct Cap. 27. Mary sir this looke howe they behaued theime selues in the receiuing of it in the ministering of it in the carefull keping of it whether they did adore it with godly honoure whether they solemnely shewed it to the people to be worshipped whether they praide by solemne and formall wordes vnto it whether they taughte theire children to caulle it God and Christe Lib. 3. de Trin. c.. 10 yea so farre that Augustine affirmeth that the children in his daies till they were after instructed thought that God appeared in the shappe of breade as all these yongers seeing the honour and reuerence of theire elders and theime selues nurtered to houlde vppe theire handes and knocke theire brestes must yet needes meruaile how these owtwarde formes came to so holy an vse further whether the Christiā people were not sclaundered for worshipping and doing sacrifice to Ceres and Bacchus Lib. 20. cōtra Faustū Cap. 13. when the wicked infidelles sawe theire behauiour towardes the holy Hoste whether it was not vsed in woorking of miracles in driuing away deuilles in daungerouse times of
waie suche stoombling stockes as perhappes might sumwhat trouble the vnlerned who for lacke of deepe iudgement be moste subiecte to the aduersaries deceites Hovve they practise vvith the simple And with suche thus they lightely practise first by lofty lookes and highe chaleÌ„gies they crake and boste with passing bowldnes that the learned meÌ„ of the world the sage fathers of the auncieÌ„t times al the graue couÌ„celles the whole vsage of the primitiue Church Great impudency in haeretikes with plaine scripture to be on theire parte And as for the contrary teaching that it came in of late with the decay of lerning and light of truethe in these barbarous tymes when superstition and darke ignorance had wasted the doctrine of the yeares past And in this bragge they stand till som Catholike man encounter with theime By whome wheÌ„ they see theim selues so driueÌ„ from the standinge which they kept with greate glory before that they must be wholy naked and destitute in the face of the worlde of al such helpes as they accompted to haue for the owtewarde shewe of theire deceitful doctrine then in plaine wordes they confesse theire teachig not to hange on the antiquitye not on councelles not on Doctors nor on any man but on Goddes holy spirite and worde which can not deceiue theime And so at th ende the owlde vse of the primitiue churche the fathers and the generall councelles arrogantly contemned or rather vnworthely condemned marke well theire prety conceites they make then a matche betwene theime selues with goddes worde on the one partye and the doctors and fathers withe owte Goddeâ— worde The sophistry of haeretikes on the other partye Affirming that they be not bound to beleue theime but where they agree with the scriptures of God And then turning theire taulke to the simple thus they preache vnto theime by a captious and foolishe demaunde whether they thinke it more reason or conuenient to beleeue the scriptures or doctors the determinatioÌ„ of the true and liuelye worde of God or elles the decrie of a generall councel which deceitfull wreasting of the state of our quaestion somwhat troobles the vnlearned which can not perceiue herby that they betray theime selues and deface theire own dooinges in so rude a defense For who seethe not nowe that they renouÌ„ce all that helpe of Councelles and Doctors which with vauÌ„tes they clamed before whiles they impudently make a diuision or contrarietie betwixte theime and the holy scripture And we take it at theire hand as an open acknouleging of theire lacke â—her wher they praeteÌ„did greatest store The whiche thinge if they likewise woulde confesse openly in pulpit and â—n plaine wordes as they meane nothing lesse wheÌ„ they shewe the people that they were but meÌ„ that they might â—rre that they folowed the custom of the common people in their time that they are not to be receiued but where they agree with scripture and that theÌ„i selues must trie whether they be coÌ„sonant to the worde of God or no if they woulde I say with owt suche cloked wordes bouldely pronounce as Luther theyr Master did that they cared not for a huÌ„dreth Augustines or Hieroms that they aestemed not the consent of all nations that they would be tried by the iudgement of no councel that they woulde purposely ronne Contrarye to the Councels decrye in al causies that they would take that for thonely trueth which is coÌ„teined in the holy scriptures and that for scripture which theime selues thought good and last of all that for the true meaninge which agreed best to the vphoulding of errour and haeresye then woulde the people leaue these lewde masters on the plaine field which now they kepe with them one while by the praysies of the doctors and antiquitye and sumwhiles by thabasing of theime ageine and deceyt full referring all to the onely scriptures to which they saye credet may salfely be gyuen where the docters with owt daunger can not be forther followed then as they benot fownde to disagree with goddes worde So that the cause seemethe nowe to be driuen to this isshue in the eyes of thignorant whether men shoulde rather beleue the scripture or the doctors the worde of God that can not be faulse or the fathers that weere but men and therfore might erre deceiue and be deceiued But this is not the state of oure controuersie nor of any question betwixte the Catholikes and theime And that they knowe full well thoughe they craftelie cloke it with chaunge of wordes â–ª for we acknowledge most gladly that if any Doctor Prophet Apostle or Angell if it were possible preache vnto vs any thing against the word and trueth of goddes scripture that he is accursed of God and to be reiected of men But here is the stand and the point of al oure doubtes in generall note it well master protestaunt whether the auncient fathers sum of theime being in Christes time diuers of theime scholars to his apostles here lieth the doubt and diuer siti betvvixte haeretikes and Catholikes many within one hundrethe or two of yeres afterward most of theime more then a thowsand yeres since I speake of suche as we haue named in oure cause and all wonderfully learned as well in the knouledge of the secrets of goddes mysteries as the tonges all mercifully indued withe greate giftes and gracyes all exceding studious in the scriptures all hauing the same testament and written worde of god that we nowe haue all vsing meruelous diligence in the coÌ„ference of diuers placies for the true meaning and vnderstanding of the same all hauing feruent zele in teaching the christian people al at times appoynted resortinge together froÌ„ diuers partes of the world to sum one generall search in wich by humble conferens together and praier thei doubted not to obteine the spirite of truth as it was by our maister promised the question is nowe then I saie whether those holy men thus holpen by nature diligens tyme and grace be not more lyke to vnderstand the scripture theÌ„ these men wich ether lacke all these helpes or moste of theyme Secondly it foloweth there vpon whether we shoulde rather geue credit to theim affirminge purgatory and praiers for the deade to be not onely consonaÌ„t but planely proued by the scriptures or elles to oure newe aduersaries auouching these thinges to be agaynst the scripture Wherbye yow see we must not nowe reason whether we ought to beleue the doctors or the seriptures better but whether for the true sense we must not beleue the owlde fathers better then these newe fooles An ansvver to suche arguments as the haeretikes doo frame of the holy scriptures not vvell vnderstanded against the practise of Goddes Churche in praying for the deade or the doctrine of Purgatory Cap. 16. THerfore to stoppe their waye at euery turne and bicause they taulke so fast of scripture full fayne woulde I heare what scriptures they haue that make ether expressely agaynst purgatory
thowe so careful for wasting away in thy purgation what shal become of vs where all is drosse and no fine substance so continual sinning and so little sauluyng where the dignity of priesthood wherby thowe conceiued suche comforth is almost worn away his feare was so harty and his meditation of purgatory paines was so ernest that he conceyuith a doubt in respecte of his desertes of wasting away and further castinge in to damnation though he knewe right wel that man admitted to the temporall iudgement of the next worlde coulde not euerlastingly perishe but bicause the paines of the one is so lyke the other the greefe of theime bothe lightly occupieth mannes mynde at once especially where mannes case is doubtefull and often deserueth the worse of the twayne So S. Augustine lykewise after that he had vttered his feare of helle in the prophet Dauids person as I sayde once before streght he adioynethe his request vnto God to saue him from Purgatory paines by the Prophets wordes allso I will recyte his mynd in English In psal 37. O Lorde amend me not in thy anger but pourge me in this lyfe that I may escape the Amending fire whiche is praepared for suche as shall be saued throughe fire And why but bicause they buylde vpon the foundation woodde hay and strawe ▪ men might builde goulde siluer and praeciouse stones and so escape bothe the fyres th one off aeternall poonishment for the wicked and the other whiche shall correct theyme that must be saued through fyre But nowe bicause we reade that he surely shal be saued Note here Christian reader vvhether S. Augustin doubted of purgatory as the lying and vnlerned aduersaryes vvoulde make the simple people belieue therfore that fier is not much regarded And yet let theime be boulde of this that though they be saued by fier it shall yet be more fearse and greuous then any thing that man may susteine in this liefe thoughe bothe Martirs and malefactours haue suffered straunge tormentes Againe in an other place the same holy doctoure vttereth the like saing Whiche I will repeate also that the worlde may behowld the vniust dealing of the contrary part De vera falsae poeniten Cap. 18. that in the booke of theire excuse why they departed owte of the Churche they call it theire Apologie be not ashamed to auouche that S. Augustine sometimes denyed and sometimes doubted of Purgatory Thus he writeth then ageinst suche deceiuers and for the defense of him selfe and the Churches faithe Sed si etiam sic conuersus euadat vitam viuat non moriatur non tamen promittimus quod euadet omnem poenam Nam prius purgandus est igne purgationis qui in aliud saeculum distulit fructum conuersionis Hic autem ignis etsi aeternus non sit miro tamen modo est grauis excellit enim omnem poenam quam vnquam passus est aliquis in hac vita Nunquam enim in carne inuenta est tanta poena licet mirabilia passi sunt martyres multi nequiter iniqui tanta sustinueruut supplicia Studeat ergo quilibet sic delicta corrigere vt post moreem non oporteat talem poenam tolerare Yff a sinner saith he by his conuersion escape death and obteine liefe yet for all that I can not promesse him that he shal escape all paine or poonishmēt For he that differred the fructes of repentaunce till the next liefe must be perfyted in Purgatory fier And this fire I tell yowe thoughe it be not euerlasting yet it is passing greuous for it dooth farre excede all paine that man may suffer in this lyefe Neuer grefe in this flesh coulde be so greate as it thoughe Martirs haue abiden straunge tormentes and the worst sort of wicked men exceding greate poonishments Therfore let euery man so correcte his owne faultes that after his deathe he may escape that pityfull payne So farre S. Augustine By whom we see not only the trueth of our our Catholike doctrine lyuely and vehemently set forth butt to the greate feare of vs all the weght of Goddes sentence and the paine of that vntolerable poonishment as the Churche of his time taught and beleued to passe all mortall and transitory wo in the worlde Wherof The paines of purgatory hath bene reueled to many holy persons it hathe pleaced allmighty God sometimes to geue man a taste by calling summe one or other aboue the common rase of nature oute of this mortall liefe and speedy restoring him from the state of the departed to the company of the lyuing againe Whiche worke thoughe it be straunge in nature thought vnlykely to misbeleuers and contemned of such as woulde extinguishe the spirite of God 1. Tessal 5. yet it hath ben the vsuall practise sence the beginning of oure faithe and religion off the holy Gost so to trade mannes fraylty in faithe and feare of Goddes Iudgements Somtimes the liuing is in traunce or sodden chaunge by Goddes omnipotency taken vppe to the vewe as it weare of the vnspeakeable treasures of the praepared ioyes or extreme calamities of the world to coom So was the Apostle S. Paule he could not tell how him self 2. Cor. 12. called to the behoulding of Goddes maiesty and mysteries vnspeakeable Apocal. 20 So was S. Iohn in spirit caused oftē to behould and praesently in a maner to see not only the affayires of goddes Church til the worldes end but also the happy Seate of the lābe the aeternal ioy of thelect and the euerlasting lake of the damned with the infinite sorowe of all the forsaken sorte And so haue many one sith that time in the same spirite had a praesent taste of all those iudgements whiche by any meanes through the vnsercheable ordinaunce of God be praepared for sinners Ecclesi 46 1. Reg. 28. Sometimes also by the same force of the Spirite the departed haue appeared emongest the lieue as Samuel the prophet to king Saul vttering thinges to coom Or if that were not Samuel him self bicause that practise of vnlawfull artes may be thought not conuenient for the procuring of the Prophettes owne persons appirition Matth. 17. yet Moyses was in dede personally praesent with Christ in the Mounte at his trāsfiguration And as he at Christes cal came frō the dead owte of the bousom of Abrahā so did Elias at the same time coom frō Paradise as S. Augustin affirmeth and wer both conuersant and in talk with Christ and in the sight of the Apostles at once frō whense they departed att Christes appointement Intercourse betvvixt the liue and dead though it be not ordinary yet it is not impossible to theire seuerall abode and rest againe Whereuppon the same holy doctoure confesseth that these rare and meruelous workes of god though they folow not the common order of nature yet they be nether impossible nor vnpractised in Christes Churche Alij sunt saith he limites humanarum rerum alia diuinarū signa
â—nd sumwhile that they borowed it of â—he gentilitye all which pointes be reâ—ugnant eche to other For nether â—ould that begin in oure Christian doâ—tours dayes which was vsed before Christes birthe nether neede they to â—orowe it of the heathen which was in â—stimation and praysed emongest the â—ewes That the prayng for the dead vvas apoinâ—ed to be had in the holy sacrifice by the Apoâ—les coÌ„maundement and praescription And â—hat our doctors by the maiesty of theyr naâ—e beare dovvne oure light aduersaries Cap. 13. BVt that this falshood may better appeare in these men we will by good testimony trye owte when and by whome the oblation and sacrifice with other ordinarie reliefes of the departed were so vniformely vsed throughe the Christian world as like wise it shall be profitable to consider who were the first authors of the contrary opinions And that the holygost by the apostles owne preaching and praescription was the first author of this solempne supplication in massies of all vsagies for the departed I might first proue by this general rule of S. Augustine Epistol ad Ianuar. et de Baptis contra donatist Lib. 4. Cap. 24. Quod vniuersa tenet ecclesia nec concilijs institutuÌ„ sed semper retentum est noÌ„ nisi authoritate apostolica tradituÌ„ rectissime credimus â–ª that which the whole Church obserueth and hathe allwaies so bene kept being not instituted by any councell it can not otherwise be had but by thapostles authoritie and traditioÌ„ And so by the like saing of Leo the greate Dubitandum non est quicquid in ecclesia in consuetudinem est deuotionis retentum Sermone 2. de ieiunio de traditione apostolica de S. spiritus prodire doctrina It can not be doubted but that what so euer is in the Churche by generall custom of deuotion kept and mainteined it came out of the Apostles tradition and doctrine of the holygost But I will seeke with theim by certaine demonstration and plaine ordre of reason that it must needes so be Prayinge for the deade was inuented by no man sithe the apostles dayes A sure vvay to try the beginning of any doctrine there can no one be named by the aduersary before whome I can not name an other that praide for the deade Let him fay wher he list this man or that man was the first that euer praide for the deade in Christes churche if I can not shewe an other before him so named to haue praide allso we will take him for the first author and then he fully stoppeth oure course that we can not bring this obseruation so highe as the Apostles dayes But if the aduersary can apoint me owte no time nor person that began this vsage before which I am not hable to proue it was practised then they can not let vs but we must needes driue it vpward to the apostles and Christes owne institution Yf they answer me that this vsage is crept in to the church sith the Apostles time thoughe the firste author can not be knowne I wil also prouide that there no shift shall serue theim Therfore I aske theime whether that man which first preached it was resisted by the rest of Goddes churche which before his preaching belieued the contrarie or no That is it say this doctrine of prayng for the deade when it first came in to the churche did any of the true pastors free from the same error barke like a good sheperd against the beginner of that which they cownt so greate a corruption of trueth Or all the Church was corrupted with it on one daye say what yowe thinke likest in this case answer with any probability or reason if yow can say plainely was oure doctrine euer preached ageinste or neuer if it neuer wer preached againste then it neuer began as any noueltye or newe doctrine For it coulde not be that the Church being free from that doctrine shoulde streght withe owte contradiction alowe that whiche they lyked not before Howe can any man arise in the commonwelth and bring the vtter decay of all the oulde ordres whiche he findethe and erecte vppe a newe deuise of his owne and neuer man speake a worde against him but al in one moment allowe and lyke the same and that with owte all recorde by memory or monument of any chaung But this thinge is most farre from the Churchies and Goddes pastors diligence that neuer receiued faulse doctrine withoute oppen contradiction and plaine noting the party that first began it as we shall plucke our gentlemeÌ„ by the slieue a none All those that haue any skyl in the antiquitie wil beare me recorde that the pastors did neuer houlde theire peace when any wolfe did but once oppen his mouthe ageinste the sheepe They can tell that she did neuer beare the preaching or practise of any faulse and erronious doctrine for one day together â–ª then it must needes consequently folowe that the doctrine off purgatory and oblation for the departed with still consent of all nations receiued in the Catholyke Churche had no beginning after the firste institutition of our faith and woorship of god but hathe ioyned from the firste grownde of oure Christian institution in Christes faithe with that sacrifice and due honour off God which the apostles by the sugestion of the holy gost plaÌ„ted in al nations with the same faith Thus I make my argumeÌ„t Note euery faulse-hood was preached against and withstanded when it is firste entered but this doctrine of purgatory and praying for the deade being alwaies vsed was neuer controwled nor gainsaide in goddes churche therfore it is no faulshood nor euer hadd any later institution then the Apostles owne prescription But what needes all this a doo by their owne consent we shall drieue this doctrine thirtene c. yeres vpwarde For so neare was Tertulian the Apostles dayes whome they confesse to haue practised that pointe of oblations for the deade And aske him where he had it for surely he inuented it not him selfe and he appointeth vs to his forfathers De corona militis he namethe the Apostles for the authors and fownders therof as of many other thinges which he there reakenethe beside that were generally receiued and nowe be of haeretikes likewise contemned We might yet steppe ij c yeare forwarde and finde emongest the Apostles oun hearers the same doctrine bothe allowed and practised but that they will make exception of Dyonisius and Clements woorkes suche shiftes men must finde that will defend faulshood Other I wil name that be owte of theire exceptions Who I thinke as wel for theire time knouledge and credit as they re excellent vertue bothe can and wil better tel the origin of that thing the authors whereof were more nigh they re tyme then oures If they woulde beleue S. August as they often professe they will the matter might soone be ended but bicause I feare they stand so muche in the corrupt conceite of their owne
singularitie that they wil be bold to reiect him I shall both lay him to theire charges and diuerse other of greater antiquitye that shall in expresse words affirme this vsage to coom from the Apostles owne schoole That therby they may ether acknouledg their errours or elles by such graue and vncorrupt iudgies be condemned of willfull malitious blindnesse Ser. 32. de ver Apost Thus S. Augustin writeth By the praiers of the holy churche the profitable sacrifice and almose bestowen for the soules departed oute of all doubt the deceased be releued so that thereby allmighty God may deale more mercifully with theime then their sinnes required For this practise deliuered vnto vs by oure fathers is obserued vniuersally in Christes Churche that for suche as be departed in the communion of Christes body and bloude when at the sacrifice they be orderly named praiers shoulde be made and the same sacrifice mentyoned to be done for theime Here by his wordes thowe vnderstandes that the profit rising by the prayers or facrifice to the departed hath no doubte in it They wer throughe the worlde vsed not in the church which they say hathe bene for ix c yeres corrupted by supersticious ignorance but in that Churche which oure aduersaryes doo confesse maugre they re heades to haue bene holy Catholyke and Apostolike And it was not thē begon but receiued by the prouision of goddes holy spirite of thapostles whome he calleth the fathers of our faith Athanasius me thinke the aduersary part should quake when I name him who was in his daies terrible to the wicked odible to haeretikes and to all vertuous mē an especial stay in the troblesom times of the Church whose grace was so great that he abbrigeth our whole faith in to a briefe psalme called the Crede of Athanasius which is beleued of al christiā mē no lesse then the holy scriptures of the new testament Who as he right well knewe howe to defend him selfe against the wicked Arrians by the doctrine of the Catholike Churche so he hath left vs in writing howe to arme oure selues against the like aduersaries of truethe with his minde in suche other points of weighte as in his dayies were not doubted of whiche yet might faul in question by the contentious wittes of many that can not quiet theyme selues in the holsom doctryne of christes church Emongest other thinges what this holy mannes mynde was concerning the vtility and vsage of prayers and sacrifice for the dead and who were the institutors thereof thow shalt nowe heare I will recite but a parte of his heauenly taulke thoughe the whole make wholy for our purpose Allthoughe saith this holy doctour he that Christianly is hense in faithe departed be hanged in the ayer and his body vnburied yet after thy prayiers made to God sticke not to light lampe and taper at his sepulchre for these thinges be not only acceptable to God but are rewarded For the oyle and waxe be to him as an holocaust or a sacrifice to be consumed by fyere but that vnblouddy hoste is a propitiation and remission to the partye It may seeme by his wordes that whē by occasiō of punishmēt or othewise any person was vn buried yet there was made sim hearse or monument where is frendes lighted tapers as they doo at this daie and procured the holy Masse Hostia incruenia which Athanasius callethe the Vnbloudy host or sacrifice to be celebrated in his behallfe for so I take that when he saiethe that a man being hong in the ayer may haue tapers and Masse at his sepulchre though sum seeke another meaning wich may wel stand too and it skillethe not for our purpose for so much is plane that in Athanasius his daies the sacrifice was called and counted propitiatory euen for the deade But nowe a litle afterward in the same oration he instructeth vs for the first authors and institutours of this vsage in the vnbloddy sacrifice The Apostles be the orderers of oure sacrifice and in the burialles of Christian men All these holy thinges saith he thapostles of Christe those heuēly preachers and scholars of oure Lorde the firste orderers of oure sacrifice charged to be obserued in the memories and anniuersaries of the departed c. he callethe the Apostles Curatores Sacrificiorum as yowe woulde saye men apointed to take ordre for all thinges perteyning to the solempne ministerie of the greate and highe misterie Psal 49. As in the Psalme the spiritual gouernoures are named Ordinatores testamēti Dei super sacrificia The prouisours of goddes testament touching the sacrificies The residewe of his holy wordes thowe may finde in Damascens oration of the departed where he recyteth bothe the Gregories of the Greeke church S. Denise and S. Chrisostō too which writers doo rather serue my turne nowe then the Latines bicause they may put vs out of doubt for the vsage of the Greke and other Churchies whiche afterwarde by schisme fell together from the true woorship of God into diuerse errors The end of schisme That we may knowe those same contryes vnder the gouernement of these excellent blessed men to haue obserued the same thinges which to theire owne aeternall miserye and decaye of they re Churche and contries they afterwarde contemned For theire dissension and diuision bothe in this point and others of no lesse importaunce hath procured goddes vengeaunce so muche that nowe they haue allmost no churche at all as we may haue right good cause to feare what will becom of vs that folowe theire steppes in such pointes as in theime haue duely deserued goddes greuous plages Amongest other for that Chrisostoms authority is exceding graue I will lett yowe see his opinion for the institution of these beneficial relieuinges of the departeds payn These be his wordes Let vs sieke out al meanes whereby we may best helpe our brethern departed let vs for theire sakes bestowe the most present remedie that is to say almose and oblatiō for therby to theyme ensueth greate cōmodtie gaine and profett for it was not rashly nor withoute greate cause prouided and to goddes Churche by his disciples full of wisdom deliuered and decried that in the dreadfull misteries there should be especial prayers made by the priest for all those the slepe in faithe For it is a singulare benefite to theim These wer Chrisostōs wordes wherby not only the truth of the cause and first authors of the practise be oppened but that there is wonderfull benefite to the parties for whome praiers be so made in the holy sacrifice The which thing our forefathers well knewe when they were so ernest after they re departure to haue a memory at the holy altare Now adaies haeresy hathe cākered euē the very deuotiō of catholykes who allthoughe they thinke it to be true that goddes Church teacheth herin yet the zele of procuring these meanes is nothing so greate as thimportaunce of the cause requireth But if they note well those
dare nether acknouledge nor name whome all good men with open mouthe bouldely doo reprehend and theire owne scholares dare not defende Such a glorious maiesty this doctrine of theires beareth that pricketh vppe with pryde those that be alyue and blottethe out of honest memorie her doctours that be deade The first Author of that secte vvhich denieth prayers for the departed is noted his good cōdicions and cause of his error be opened vvhat kind of men haue bene most bent in all agies to that secte And that this haeresy is euer ioyned as a fit companion to other horrible sectes Cap. 14. BVt yet bicause they haue diffamed oure practise in praing and offering for the deade by referring it to a latter origin then the apostolike authority and tradition seeing we haue fathered oure vsage vpon suche as the aduersaries dare not blame we will helpe theime to seeke owte the fathers of they re faithles persuasion lest by the feare and bashfullnesse of theire owne scholares they be vnkindly forgotten Mary to find owte these obscure loyterers it wil be sumwhat painefull bicause as theeues doo they kepe by wayes and lightly treade not in honest mennes pathes For the finding owte of recordes for the testimony of our truethe we kepte the day light the highe waye of Goddes Churche All the knowne notable personagies in the holy Citye of God offered theyme selues bothe to witnesse and proue with vs. We droue this truethe from oure daies throughe the middest of that holy communitie whiche S. Augustine callethe the Citye of God and oure aduersaries will not saye otherwise but they were the liuely mēbres of that happy and heauenly felowship The high vvay of trueth We brought the practise of it to the holy Apostles by plaine accompte we went with the truethe of our cause to the lawe of Moyses from thense by like light to the lawe of nature But now for the other sorte we must leaue the cyty of God and the feloweship of these noble personagies of doctors Apostles Prophets and Patriarches and seeke on the lyfte hand in the other citie whiche is of Augustine named the cyty or commonwelthe as a man migh call it of the deuil in whiche body all practise of mischiefe and origin of erroure isshuing from that vnhappy heade to the corrupt and deadly limmes therof is to be fownde We shall heare of the aduersary persuasion then The by vvay of haeresy in the company of Anabaptistes of Arrians of Saduceis of Epicures where so euer the weedes of the common enemies corrupte seede growethe there shal we finde amongest breares and brembles this choking weede with all For as the true preachers the Apostles of Christe Iesu did sowe in the beginninge of the Christian church which was the springe of the worde of lyfe and truethe amongest other heauenly seedes of true doctrine that profitable practise for the reliefe of suche as were hense departed in the slepe of peace with the decent ordre which euer sithens the Catholyck churche hathe obedyently folowed euen so Math. 13. Inimicus homo superseminauit zizania the common enemy came afterwarde and ouersewe darnell and cockle ether for the vtter choking or elles for the especiall lette of that good seede which the Maister of this field by his houshoulde seruauntes had plentifully sowen before This common aduersarye as our maister him sellfe expoundeth it is the Deuil who as he in all other thinges beneficiall to mankinde is a greate stay so Christian mennes commoditye in this point he notably hindereth by his wicked suggestions and deuilishe diuise wherby he prouokethe many vnder the shewe of Goddes worde or bare name thereof for that is the lābes cote which this wyely woolfe boroweth to maske in to be vnkīd vnnatural and with owt all godly affectiō towards their departed frēdes The whiche cōtrary corrupt sede of false doctrine we right wel know came of the sayd aduersary bicause it was lōge after ouersowen Tert. de prescrip lerning further of Tertulian Id verū esse quodcūque primū id adulterinū quod posterius That to be true that was first taught and that to be faulse and forged which came latter And yet besydes that generall and moste certeine instructiō lerned Damascen helpeth vs to the trial of this peculiare case Doubting not to affirme that al such cogitatiōs as do entre into mānes head against the praiers or charitable woorkes for the departed be the deuilles enuious and subtill suggestions for the hinderaunce off oure brethern departed from the heauenly ioyes For thus he writeth in a sermon for the same purpose That oulde serpent saith he whose endeuoure is to corrupt and deface the good and acceptable woorkes of God and to lay snares for the entrapping of mennes soules who is muche perced through brotherly loue and brasteth in sunder for the enuy that he beareth towardes our faithe and finially is madded by oure naturall compassion one towardes an other as one that is the vtter renouncer of all good lawes he enspireth to som a fayned and faulse imagination cleane contrary to the holy constitutions that is to say that al good and acceptable workes before God shoulde no whit proffet the departed soules Our protestantes be inspired by Damascens iudgement Yf this writers iudgement be good as it is sure most sounde then must al our vnnaturall and vnkynd preachers haue an especiall inspiration of the deuill him selfe so often as they hinder fauoure and grace from the deade For as he reduced oure origin to the Apostles so he doubteth not to auouche the contrary persuation to be euidently moued by the oulde serpent of especiall enuie towardes mannes saluation And nowe if thowe list knowe in whome this subtill suggestion tooke first place and roote Of the author of this nevv sect after the longe vsage of the other according to the Apostles planting we shall make the for thy especial comfort partaker therof also We will not vse the aduersaries as they doo vs charging vs with later preaching or doctrine then the Apostles plāted and yet can nether tell where nor by whome it began But we shall by open euidence call the wolfe by his name Let an heretike but set owte fout and once open mouthe thoughe he doo no harme at all yet the watcheman of Israell hath him by the backe streght The dogges were neuer so doom in goddes Churche but they woulde barke at the first apparance of any straunge cattell For that the notation of his arising and name was not onely a warning to the present time to take heede to theire faithe but an admonition to all the posteritye to beware of the lyke And it was euer counted a refutation of an haeresye to the full to reduce it to a latter infamous author by the certaine recorde of the churchies historie The which kind of reason bothe emongest the lerned hathe singulare strenghte and is sensible for the people and of the aduersarie vtterly
greate waste of religion hathe many faulse opinions knitte together emongest which one being as principall grounde shadoweth the other lesser branchyes as nowe the blasphemy of the holy Sacrificie and Sacrament being the fountayne of theire haeresies in a maner couerethe the meaner puddelles of theire stinking doctrine And emoÌ„gest other this vnnaturall affection of forbiddinge the relyfe of the parted seemethe euer to be ioyned as an appendix to other faulshooddes For in holy Damascenes daies this secte appeared againe with other faulse doctrine as a companion of all mischiefe And to proue it to be an haeresie he seeketh oute the first founder thereof Damascen in oratione pro defunctis de haeres and findeth eueÌ„ as before that vnder the deuill this Aerius was the father of that faythlesse assertion Whome he bayteth wellfauourdly in a whole oration and so driues the woolfe in to the wodde againe Then for many a day together this doctrine was dashte til the time of holy S. Bernard and Petrus the reuerent Abbate of Cluny by whiche two notable howsekeping dogges that were neuer doume in the Churchies neede this woolfe appearing once ageine was both noted and oppenly vanquished Note vvel hovv this faulshood euer ioyneth it selfe to other horrible sectes And in theire dayes this faulsehod that before was a companion of the Arrians marke well the course of thinges good reader was nowe matched with the Anabaptistes who in that time as the saide writers doo recorde did call theime selues Apostolici that is to say apostolike or folowers of the apostles so they would be termed to delude the ignorant by the bewty of that glorious name as nowe theire ofspring cal theime selues Euangelici that is to say gospellers and the pure preachers of the worde and ghospell S. Bernarde touched theim to the quick in a sermon by these wordes Lo saith he these miscreants lo these dogges Sermone 66 super â—antic they laughe vs to skorne that we baptise infaÌ„ts that we pray far the dead that we require the helpe of holy sanctes they exclude Christes grace in all sortes and euery kinde in oulde and yong in the liue and in the deade Looke yowe nowe with theire gospell lyke name they were counted no better then prophane dogges of this holy father that laught so skornefullye at Christes church for praying for the deade and inuocation of sanctes and shall we make suche Iuels of theire scholars nowe a dayes In all agyes since this wielde seede was first sowne the true preachers the woorkmen of goddes haruest haue euer plucked it vpp as it first appeared The which wede was better knowne from the corne bicause it euer grewe emongest the bundels of briers and brembles and was of that waisting nature that it could not be tolerated with owte the vtter choking of the wheate This doctrine I say being of it self very perniciouse yet it is euer in coÌ„pany of other mischiefe For the principall author of this secte was an Arian then the folowers as Bernard witnessith were Anabaptistes or worse To whome all men muche meruell that God shulde rather reueale suche misteryes of truethe then to other that were sownde in faithe And in dede I would gladly meete withe sum one good fellowe or other of that secte that weere lerned with al that he might resolue me in this doubt why this conclusion of not offering or praying for the deade of not keping thordinarie fastes of contemning the Sanctes helpe in heauen and the residewe of your newe Creede why God seeing al light of truethe coÌ„methe of his grace openethe these misteries alwaies and onely to suche as yowe your selues can not deny to be haeretikes I trovve no protestant can ansvver vvith reason to this point Why did he reueale in the primitiue Churche that doctrine to an Arian being an open enymie of his holy name and not to Athanasius or Epiphanius or som other blessed men of that time I stand the longer vpon this point that the worlde and who so euer is the simplest may behoulde your miserie and shame for I knowe yowe can say nothing in this case for your defense but euen beare with black blotted coÌ„sciencies the infamy of wilfull blyndnesse Howe say yow did not your doctrine afterwarde appeare againe emongest wicked Anabaptistes that deny emongest other thinges the baptisinge of infantes it was nether reueled to Bede nor Bernard I warrant yowe Here this secte ioyneth vvih the sacramentaries aâ—d the rest of miscreauntes But com lower yet to oure owne time yow knowe full well we haue store of Anabaptistes of Arians of Saduceys of Epicures and of al other sectes that the deuill euer deuised suche light of truethe hath our happy age by your praeaching tell me trueth nowe be not all these whome yowe cownte haeretikes as wel as we doo be they not all I say of your opinion in this matter and not one of theime of oures Nay I will pose yowe further is not your preachinge the very redy waye to all suche extreeme blasphemies as they bowldely mainteyne did euer man fawle from the Catholike Churche to those further haeresies then yowe yet openly professe but he tooke youres by the way as a plane passage to extreme infidelitye yea your opinions doo so well stande with the other that they neede not afterward to refuse any one pointe of al your doctrine to mainteyne theire owne There is no article of Catholike doctrine but it is as much hated of theim as of your selues Helpe your selues here my maisters Marke vvell or elles all the worlde will take yowe to be in your heartes of the same sectes wherevnto your faithe is allwaies so dearely ioyned Put your heades together and tell vs whie your doctrine is so deare to the Arians and all wicked men and so hated of the holy fathers of Christes Church Yf you frame not your answer wel yow liese your credites your scholares and your honesties Wel thus haue I pointed owt your author his name was Aërius yowe must be cauled Aërians yow may kepe the name of protestauntes or Euangelistes besyde For a holy newe calling is lightly ioyned to suche men Wherby though sum simple be deceyued yet wise men be warned Or if the owlde authors of this sect be not so glorious as these newe reuiuers if they list and like so they may cal theime selues Lutherans or Caluinistes or what they will but Catholikes Althoughe Martyn Luther graunted purgatorye and praiers whith this error that suche as were there might yet by theire diuers deseruings win or lose lyfe euerlastinge as men of doubtefull state as they were before in the worlde playne agaynst oure sauiours admonition Vide Hieronimum sup 3. ad galathas Ioan. 9. and carefull warninge veniet nox quando iam nullus operari potest Woorke whiele the day lasteth for the night shall coom when no man can labour But I neede not to stand vpon this point which of nether parte
but yet for answhering in summe parte of goddes iustice and perfecte purging of the same sinfull lyefe past oute of all doubte sharply pounishable for these thinges I say and for the stirring vppe of the feare of God in my selfe VVhy this treatise vvas taken in hande the helpe of the simple the defense of the truethe and thabbatyng of this greate rage of sinne and haeresy I thought good to geue warninge moued theruÌ„to by my freÌ„d also to all suche as be not theyme selues hable to searche owte the trueth of these matters of that temporall or transitory poonishment whiche god of iustice hathe ordeyned in the other worlde for suche as woulde not iudge theime selues and praeuent his heuy hand whieles they here lyeued oure forefathers more then a thousand yere sence cauled it Purgatory The truethe and certeyne doctrine wherof I truste throughe goddes gooddnesse so clearely to proue The mattâ—â—â—he first booke that the aduersary be he neuer so greate wythe the deuil shall neuer be able to make any likly excuse of his infidelitye The argument oâ— the secoÌ„d booke And that so doone I shall bothe open and prooue the meanes whiche the Churche of God hathe euer proffitably vsed for the release of her children from the same punishment to be soueraing good and comfortable for the faithfull soules departed And here I heartely pray the gentle reader who so euer thou be that shall fynd iust occasion vndoubtedly to belieue this article of necessary doctryne euer constantly set forthe by the grauest authority that may be in earthe that as thowe faithfully belieues it so thowe perpetually in respecte of the day of that dreadfull visitation studye withe feare and tremblyng to woorke thy saluation Lett that be for euer the difference betwixte the vnfructefull faithe of an heretique and the proffitable belyefe of the true Catholike Christiane that this may woorke assured paenaunce to perpetuall saluation and his vayne praesumption to euerlasting damnation And thoughe the matter whiche I haue taken in hande be nothing fitte for the diet of suche delicate men as haue bene broght vppe vnder the pleasaunt preaching of oure dayes yet perchaunce chaunge of diett withe the sharpenesse of this eagre sawse were iff they coulde beare it muche more agreehable to theire weake stoomaches Truethe was euer bitter Cyp. epist. 3. li. 5. and faulshood flattering For th one by praesent payne procurethe perpetuall welthe thother throughe deceytefull swhetnes woorkethe euerlasting woe But as for these pleasure preachers theyme selues bicause I feare me they haue indented with deathe and shaked handes withe helle what so euer may be saide in this case they wil yet spourne withe the wordes of the wicked Isai 28. Flagellum inundans cum transierit non veniet super nos quia posuimus mendacium spem nostram mendacio protecti sumus Toushe the common scourge when it passethe ouer shall not tutche vs for we haue made lying oure suckoure and by lying are we guarded Yet when the light of the Apostolike traditioÌ„ shal dase theire eyes and the force of goddes truethe beare doune theire bouldnes theire oune blacke afflicted conscience by inwarde acknowledginge that truethe whiche they openly withstande shall so horribly torment theire mindes that denieng purgatory they shal thinke theym selues a lieue in hell But gentle readers pray for theyme with teares Prayer is thonely remedy ageinst vvil full blindnes that god of his mighty grace woulde stricke they re fleshe with his feare And if my poore payne withe the prayers of vs al coulde tourne any one of theime all from the way of wickednesse it woulde recompense doubtlesse summe of our sinnes and couer a nuÌ„bre of my misdeedes And euer whilest we leyue let vs praise God that in this tyme of temptation he hathe not suffered vs to faule as oure sinnes haue deserued in to the misery of these forsakers To whome if I speake sometymes in this treatise more sharplye then my costume or nature requirethe the zele of truethe and iust indignation towardes haeresie with the exaÌ„ple of oure forefathers must be my excuse and warraunt I will be as plaine for the vnlearneds sakes as I may and the matter suffer And therefore nowe at the first I will open the very grounde as neare as I can of so necessary an article that the ignoraÌ„ce of any one piece may not darken the whole cause Desiring the studious to reade the whole discourse bicause euery peculiare pointe so ioyntly dependethe of the residewe that the knouledge of one ordrely giueth light to al the other And so the whole together I trust shal reasonably satisfye his desire THAT OFTEN AFTER oure sinnes be forgiuen by the sacrament of poenaunce there remainethe summe due of temporall pounishement for the satisfying of goddes iustice and som recompense of the offensies past Cap. 1. AS it is most true and the very grounde of al Christian comforte Ephes 1. Haeb. 9. that Christes deathe hathe payed duely and sufficyently for the sinnes of all the worlde August Euch. cap. 65. by that abundant price of redemption paied vpon the Crosse So it is of lyke crediet to all faithful that no man was euer partaker of this singulare benefite but in the knotte and vnity off his body misticall whiche is the churche To the membres wherof the streames of his holy blodde and beames off his grace for the remission of sinne and sanctification be ordrely throughe the blessed Sacraments as condethes of goddes mercy conueyde All whiche Sacraments though they be instituted and vsed as meanes to deriue Christes benefites Marke the grounde of the cause and bestowe his grace of redemption vppon the worthy receiuers yett lyke effecte or force is not by the meaning of they re first author and institutour employed vppon all receiuers nor gieuen to all the Sacraments That may welâ— appeare iff we marke the exceding abundant mercy that is powred vppon all men at theire first incorporation and entraunce into the housholde of the faithfull by Baptisme In whiche sacrament the merites of oure masters deathe be so fully and largely caried downe for the remission of sinne that were the liefe before neuer so loden withe most horrible offensyes that in this misery man may commit yet the offender is not onely pardoned of the same but also perfectly acquieted for euer of all payne or pounishement other then the common miseries of mankind whiche his propper offenlyes before committed by any meanes might deserue And no lesse free nowe then the childe after baptisme which onely originall sinne brought thether So saithe S. Ambrose by these wordes Gratia Dei in Baptismate noÌ„ quaerit gemituÌ„ Super vndec cap. ad Rom. aut planctum aut opus aliquod nisi soluÌ„ ex corde professioneÌ„ The grace of God in Baptisme requirethe nether sorowe nor mourning â–ª nor any other woorke but onely an hearty profession of thy faith Whereby he meaneth that after oure sinnes
swhorde at the entraunce off ioy with oute all stoppe or tariaunce because the fiere of loue in his lyefe tyme had such force in him that the amending fyer after his chaunge should take no houlde of him at all so saith Ambrose But of this priuate iudgement the Reuerent Bede hathe a goodly sentence in the fyfte of his historye Cap. 14 Meminerimus facta cogitationes nostras non in ventum diffluere sed ad examen summi Iudicis cuncta seruari siue per amicos Angelos in fine nobis ostendenda siue per hostes Let vs remembre saithe he that al oure dedes and thoghtes shall abide and not be caried a way with the winde but be reserued to the examination of the highe Iudge and so shall be laide before oure face at oure ending ether by our good or aduersary Angells By all whiche it is euident The soules be not in doubte of theire damnatiō or saluation til the day of iudgement that the soules sleape not of which errour Luther was allso noted nor be reserued in doubte of their damnation ether perpetuall or temporall tyll the latter day but streght waye receyue as they deserued before in theire lyefe ether welth or wofull paines In this day of oure lorde then this Purgatory paines must beginne to all suche as haue after they re Baptisme where they layde the foundation off Christes faith builded the workes off lesser sinnes and imperfection and not wasshed theyme a way by paenaunce in they re lyfe nor obteyned mercy for the same The whiche trueth the places of the Prophet and Apostle before alleaged with out al vnsemely wrething or wraesting doo so plainely beare that if ours were a sense neuer hearde of before yet the onely comparing off the textes and necessary circumstancies off the letter might rather dryue vs to that meaning then any other that they can euer alleage or proue But now as Catholikes euer doo keping the owlde meaning and fourging no newe geuing no other sense then that whiche the persuation of all Christian people both learned and simple hath driuen from the beginning of oure faith downe to oure dayes and framyng no other vnderstanding then that whiche we finde expressely in the learning and faith off our fathers bothe set forth and proued who is so rude in iudgement or so entāgled with any contrary opinion that will not acknouledge the trueth and doctrine euery way so compassed with proufe and all liklihoods But as reason is and my promesse was at the beginnyng I will lett the good Christian see the wordes of most notable auncyent writers that he may reioyse his faithe to be so suerly grownded First then yowe shall perceiue that S. Augustine expoundeth the texte off the prophet Malachie before recited Cap. 3. for purgatory paynes euen as I saide I am certeyne he may muche moue our aduersaries as one whome they chaleng to be patrone of som of theire opinions but howe vniustly in all poyntes God knoweth and in this matter especially yowe shall nowe perceiue After the rehersall of the Prophets wordes and wel weying the matter he thus writeth Lib. 20. de ciuit Cap. 25. Ex ijs quae dicta sunt videtur euidentius apparere in illo iudicio quasdam quorumdam purgatorias poenas futuras Vbi enim dicitur Quis sustinebit diem introitus eius aut quis ferre poterit vt aspiciat eum quia ipse ingreditur quasi ignis conflatorij quasi herba lauantium sedebit conflans emundans sicut argentum aurum emundabit filios Leui fundet eos sicut aurum et sicut argentum quid aliud intelligendum est dicit tale aliquid Isaias Lauabit dominus sordes filiorū filiarum Sion sanguinē emundabit de medio eorum spiritu iudicij spiritu combustionis Nisi fortè sic eos dicendum est emundari à sordibus eliquari quodam modo cum ab eis mali per poenale iudicium separantur vt illorum segregatio atque damnatio purgatio sit istorum quia sine talium de coetero commixtione victuri sunt sed cum dicit emundabit filios Leui fundet eos sicut aurum argentum erunt domino offerentes hostias in iusticia placebit domino sacrificium Iuda Hierusalem Vtique ostendit eos ipsos qui emundabuntur deinceps in sacrificijs iustitiae domino esse placituros ac per hoc ipsi a sua iniustitia emundabuntur in qua domino hostiae displicebant ▪ porro in plena perfectaque iustitia ipsi erunt cum mundati fuerint quid enim acceptius deo tales offerūt quà m seipsos verum ista quaestio de Purgatorijs poenis vt diligentius pertractetur in tempus aliud differenda est thus in Englishe By the foresayde wordes it semeth very euident that in the tyme of that iudgement there shall be certeyne Purgatory paynes for sum sorte off men For when it is saide VVho can be able to susteyne the day of his comming who can stande in his sight bicause he shall sitte trying owte and purifiyng as it were gould and siluer and entre in lyke the fier of the fornace and as wasshers sope he shal make cleane the sōnes of Leui and shall trye theime as goulde and siluer What other thing by all these words cā be ment Cap. 4. but purgatory paines Namely seeing the prophet Esay hath the like in these wordes God shal wasshe a waye the filthe of the sonnes and doghters of Syon and purge blodde frō the middest of theime in the spirite of iudgement and fier Except a mā might conueniently say that they shal be wasshed from filthe and as yowe woulde saye newe fourged when the wicked by finall iudgement are seuered owte of theire company that so theire departure and damnation may be the purgation of the rest bicause after that daye they shall lieue for euer without the company of the badde But when the Prophet saith more that he will clense the childrē of Leuy and purify theime as gould and siluer that they may offer they re oblations in rightuousnesse and the sacrifice of Iuda and Hierusalem shall pleace oure Lorde He surely giueth vs to wiet that euen the same selfe men whiche shall be purged must afterwarde offer to God the sacrifice of iustice that being once thus amended of theire vnrightuousnesse in whiche theire offeringes could not be acceptable vnto God may afterwarde in pure and perfect iustice offer theime selues as a most pleasaunte hoste and oblation vnto our Lord. But this quaestion of purgatory paines I will differ to a further treaty hereafter All this hathe S. Augustine Whereby we may both acknowledge his minde and the Prophets meaning whiche according to the grace geuen vnto him in the expounding of scriptures he hathe sought owte by conference of that place with other the like owte of Esay by weiyng discretely the whole circunstance of the letter
sense to the texte and whole circumstance off the letter But as soone as Origen went aboute to prooue by the same scripture that all wicked men shoulde at lengthe be saued after due purgation by fier then this pillar of truethe seeing an open faulshod gathered by the scripture of goddes worde coulde susteyne no longer She set vpp against this errour her pastors the graue fathers of our faithe ▪ who ceased not as occasion serued to geue men warninge of the deceite intended not onely stille mainteining the doctryne of Purgatory but allso expressely condemnyng all the reprehenders thereof as hereafter it shall be better declared and so misliking no sense that in it selfe was true the meaning of Purgatory yet hath bene of all the learned counted so certaine that in geuing any other lykly exposition that was euer added with all as most consonant to the will and wordes off the writers So dothe Theodoretus so dothe S. Augustine and so in a maner did they all And as the saide holy doctour saith with whose wordes I am much delited bycause he of all other maketh trueth stand most plainely vpon it self One texte of scripture may well haue so many vnderstandings as may stand withe truethe 12. Confes and be not repugnaunt to good lyefe and manners And he hedgeth the diuersity of mennes wittes in the exposition of scripture with in the dooble knott of loue which is towards God and our brother De doctri Christiana li. 1. c. 36. VVho so euer saith he takethe him selfe to vnderstande scripture or anye parte thereof and in that meaning aedifieth nothing at all the dooble loue of God and oure neightbour he misseth the true meaning thereof Butt who so euer can fiend owt such a sense that may be commodious to the increase of charitie althoughe it were not directly intended by the writer yet he is not harmefully deceiued nor fownde a lyar therein so saith he Nowe as for oure matter I am well assured there dare no man thoughe he were destitute of Goddes grace yet not for shame of him selfe affirme that the doctrine of Purgatory is hourtfull to vertuous liefe the onely miscreditt wherof hath vtterly banished al good Christian condicions oriniurious to the faithe of Goddes Churche whiche is not onely agreable but principally intended by the plaine letter of Goddes worde and consonaunt to all other meanings that may be gathered by any such scripture as we haue alleaged there for and to be short receiued of so many fathers so wise and so well learned as we haue named for that purpouse as a truethe moste reasonable most naturall and most agreeable to Goddes iustice Well then the misbeleuers can haue no shifte nor escape by the chalenge of Goddes worde or doctures or diuersity of sensies here is no houlde for erroure all I trust be safe and sure on euery saide Obiectiō Theire extreme and onely refuge is that the paine of Christes passion and his sufficient payment for oure sinnes standeth not with oure satisfaction or poenaunce in this liefe nor with paine or purgatory in the next O lorde howe farre may mannes malice reache that not contented to abuse theire reason and the worde of God in persuasion of erroure but are bowlde to referre Christes blessed deathe allso to cloke together with faulshood ansvver wanton and licentious lieuing Many vertuous persons haue ben prouoked by the meditation of oure sauiours sorowes to leaue the flattering welthe of this worlde and to charge theime selues with perpetuall vexation of body but that any did euer so rest vpon Christes passion that in respecte thereof they might passe theire dayes midle welthe off lust and liberty that was I trowe vnhearde of before this sinfull secte These felowes argue thus Christe hath paide the full price of our sinnes ergo we must doo no poenaunce nor suffer any paine for theime But S. Paule thus Christe by paine and passion is entred into the glory of his kingdome Rom. 8. ergo if we looke to be his felowe heires or partakers of his glory we must suffer affliction with him and ioyne with him in paines and passion S. Peter also thus Christe hathe suffered leauing you an example that ye should folowe his steppes 1. Petri. 2. therefore all his blessed liefe passed in paine muste be a perpetuall sturring vppe of toleration Matth. 3. and gladde suffering for his name agayne Iohn oure masters messenger praepared the way of Christes deathe and doctrine by worthy fructes of poenaunce Mat. 4. and that was the beginning off Christes owne preaching therefore I dare be boulde to say these thinges are not abrogated by the teaching of the Ghospell nor voide by Christes passion whiche onely maketh oure workes and merites to be of that value and acceptation that all catholike men counte theime of whiche elles to the satisfying for sinne shoulde be nothing auaileable nor to to the atteining of heauen any thing profitable But it is foly to make ouer many wordes in a case so plaine seeing the example of both God and good mennes dealing abundantely proueth mannes poonishment ether temporall or aeternall to stand well withe the excellent value of oure sauioures deathe For if paine for sinne were iniurious to Christes death then the holy prophet Dauid that liued long in greuous poenaunce were iniurious to his Lordes deathe then the Churche were iniurious to her owne spouse his deathe that chargethe all offenders with poenaunce then God him sellfe were iniurious to his owne sonnes deathe that sharply poonisheth sinne forgeuen then Christe him felfe were iniurious to his owne death that bothe by his example and holy preaching dyd euer commend sharpe poenaunce and paine These delicate teachers of oure time that vnder praetence of preaching the Ghospell auouching the glory of God and the grace of oure redemption haue serued mennes lustes abandoned the owlde austerity of Christian liefe and rased oute of the peoples hartes the feare of Goddes iudgementes were foreseene by the holy Apostle Iudas And he calleth theime Iudas in epist Impios transferentes Domini nostri gratiam in luxuriam Wicked men turning the grace of our Lorde vnto wantonnesse and lust Ageinst whome allso S. Paule made this exception Ad Gal. 5. that they shoulde not in any wise by the freedom of our redemption chalenge any liberty of the fleshe Notwithstanding Christes passion then we must not otherwise thinke but to suffer for oure owne sinnes not as helping the insufficiencie of his merites but as making our selues apte to receiue that blessed benefite which effectually worketh vpon no man but by meanes nor serueth any to saluation but by obedience of his will and worde Ad Haebr cap. 5. For if Christes death shoulde woorke accordinge to the full force of it selfe it woulde doubtlesse supp vpp all sinne and al paine for sinne it might wype away death bothe of this praesent lyefe and aeternall it woulde leaue nether Hell Purgatory nor paine the price and
oute the whole worke oure matter Yf oure aduersaries would with desire to lerne as thei commonly do to reprehend reade but his discourse onely they might quickly see theire owne foly and amend theire misbeliefe They call him the last good pope as he was in dede a blessed man and by his authority the perfect conuersion of oure nation to Christes faithe was wrought I woulde his holy woorks deserued but as muche credet nowe with certaine forsakers as his legates then did wyth all the vnfaithfull people of our coontrye But to go forwarde in our matter we shall finde in S. Bernarde the same wordes of our sauiour alleaged for oure purpose thus Ser. 66. in canti Non credunt ignem Purgatorium restare post mortem sed statim animam solutam a corpore vel ad requiem transire vel ad damnationem quaerāt ergo ab eo qui dixit quoddam peccatum esse quod neque in hoc saeculo neque in futuro remittetur cur hoc dixerit si nulla manet in futuro remissio purgatioue peccati They beleue not saithe he by sum haeretiques of his owne time that there is any purgatory paines remaining after deathe but they suppose that the soule streght vpon departure hense goeth ether to rest or damnation let suche felowes aske therfore of him that saide a certain greuous crime coulde nether be forgeuen in this worlde nor in the worlde to coom why he so saide iff there wer no remission nor purgation of sinnes in the liefe following thus said Bernard opening his graue iudgement both vppon the text and our matter whose authority if any aesteme lesse bicause off his late writing let him know that the aduersaries haue none for theire side so auncient by CCC yeare except they name the heretike Aerius or suche like whose antiquity maketh not so muche for them as his auncient cōdemnation for haeresy in this pointe maketh ageinste theime But that in the mouth of two or thre witnesses all truethe may appeare and contrary faulshood vanishe away S. Augustine him selfe gathered by this place nowe alleaged euen then when he had no occasion geuen him by the wranglyng of any misbeleuer to wreast any scripture other wise thē the very wordes imported the trueth of remission of certaine faultes in the nexte lyfe in these wordes Ca. 24. li. 21. de ciuit Facta resurrectione mortuorum non deerunt quibus post paenas quas patiuntur spiritus mortuorum impertiatur misericordia vt in ignem non mittantur aeternum neque enim de quibusdam veraciter diceretur quod nō eis remittetur neque in hoc saeculo neque in futuro nisi essent quibus etsi non in isto tamen remittetur in futuro There shall be certaine at the time off resurrection allso who shall obteine mercy after they haue suffered suche paynes as deade mennes gostes doo abyde that they be not caste in to the euerlasting fyer for elles it coulde not in any true sense be spoken that certaine shoulde nether haue pardon in this worlde nor in the worlde to com except ther were summe that speeding not of pardon in this lyfe might yett haue remission in the next so saith he Being I warraunt yowe so sadde witted and so farre from phantasies that he woulde not grounde any assured doctrine vpon euery light occasion offered or motion made had not the very wordes and forme of phrase approued it and Goddes Churche liked it Hauing then these graue fathers with others Beda in 3. Cap. Marci for oure warraunt in the exposition of this place we doo take it for a sure grownde that the payine off purgatiō in the next worlde may be remitted that is to saie ether made lesse or elles wholy released before the due execution of Goddes sentence be extreamly doone Som tymes Goddes iustice is an svvered fully by the paine of the party For it is not ment that the freedom which man may haue after ful answer and payment of his sinnes in that place of poonishement temporal shoulde be properly termed a remission or pardon For that is aunswerable to Goddes iustice and althoughe there were no praiers or other waies of helpe yet the patient by toleration in time might vnder the protection off Christes merites make ful satisfaction and so be discharged who being a vessel of mercy can not be damned But when we say that sinnes may be forgeuen in the next world Goddes Church whiche is the moother of all beleuers teacheth vs that sum parte as well off the rigour end extremity of the paine as of the time and continuance therof thoughe God him selfe hath appointed that poonishment may yet be mercyfull released That the faithfull soules in Purgatory being novve past the state of deseruing and not in case to help theime selues may yet receiue benefite by the vvoorkes of the lyuing to vvhome they be perfectly knitte as felovve membres of one body Cap. 2. BVt nowe what meanes may be fownde to ease oure brethern departed of theire paine or what wayes can be acceptable in the sight of God to procure mercy and grace where the sufferers theyme selues being owt of the state of deseruing and place of welworkyng can not helpe theyme selues nor by any motion of mynde atteyne more mercy then they re liefe past did deserue Where shal we then finde ease for theyme suerly no where elles but in the vnity and knotte of that holy felowship in wich the benefite of the heade perteynethe to all the membres and euery good woorke of any one mēbre wonderfully redoundeth to all the rest This socyety is called in oure crede communio sanctorum the communion of Sanctes that is to say a blessed brotherhood vnder Christe the heade by loue and religion so wroght and wrapped to gether that what any one membre off this fast body hath the other lacketh it not what one wanteth the other suppliethe when one smartethe all feeleth in a maner the lyke sorowe 1. Cor. 12. when one ioyethe thother reioysethe wythall This happy socyety August ep 23. is not inpared by any distance of place by diuersity off goddes giftes by inequalyty off estates nor by chaunge of liefe so farre as the vnity of goddes spirit reacheth so farr this fellowship extendethe this city is as large as the benefite of Christes deathe takethe place Yea withein all the compasse of his kingdom this felloweship is fownde The soules and sanctes in heauen Idem tract 32. in Ioan. the faithful people in earth the chosen childrē that suffer chastisement in Purgatorye are by the perfect bond of this vnity as one abundeth redy to serue the other as one lacketh to craue of the other The christian communion and felouship is expressed The soules happely promoted to the ioye of Christes blessed kyngdom in this vnitye and knotte of loue perpetually praye for the doubtfull state of they re owne fellowes benethe the carefull condition of the membres belowe
theime Thus he saieth Augustines ansvver to Pelagius denying scripture for that it made against his haeresy Nec ideo liber sapientiae qui tanta numerositate annorum legi meruit in ecclesia Christi pati debet iniuriam quoniam resistit eis qui pro meritis hominum falluntur rursus omnibus hic liber tractatoribus anteponendus quoniam sibi eum anteposuerunt etiaÌ„ teÌ„poribus apostoloruÌ„ proximi egregij tractatores qui euÌ„ testeÌ„ adhibeÌ„tes nihil se adhibere nisi diuinum testimonium crediderunt in englishe thus It is no reason that the boke of wisdom which so many worlde 's together hathe bene worthy the reading in the Church of Christe shoulde nowe receiue suche wronge at oure handes bicause it plainely resisteth these felowes that exalt mannes merites aboue goddes grace And agayne this booke is of more authoritye then all thexpositours in the worlde for the noble writers hard by the apostles time did muche preferre this booke before theyme selues who alleaging the testimony of that scripture doubted not but they vsed thereby the witnesse of goddes holy worde Euen so must we tel oure masters that it were plaine wrong to discredet the history of the Machabies which hathe bene in our Bible euer sithe Christes time for holy scripture bicause it hathe an euident testimonie against their faulse beleefe concerning the state of the soules departed which booke is not onely better to be beleued then all Caluins faulse gloses but of more authoritye then all holy expositors Owte of whiche booke bothe S. Augustine and others many haue vsed proofe of their matters as of the testimonie of sacred and holy scripture But oure aduersarye learned not this practise of Pelagius onely for it is an oulder sore and a common sicknes to al deuisers of deulishe doctrine as the skyllfull in the Churchies affaires maye acknouledge For sum there were that other wise could not vphoulde haeresy but by the vtter denial of all the oulde Testament as Carpocrates Ceuerus Manicheus Augusti de haeresib 24. haeres Tertul. de praescrip Iren. cap. 26. libr. 1. Euseb eccles histor libr. 4. De haeresi ad quod vult deum 30. heresi But Marcion and Cerdon reiect al together sauing Lukes gospel Nowe Cerinthus and Ebion make counte of none of all the euangelicall histories but the gospell of Matthewe Cerinthus againe and Seuerus woulde haue robbed the churche of the actes of thapostles A secte called Alogiani do refuse the gospell of S. Iohn with thapocalipse Martine Illiricus Caluine and theire companions that no man being but an haeretique shoulde euer oute pricke theime will shoulder with the proudest and lifte out of our bibles the bookes of Machabies with S. Iames Epistle and more when more nede requirethe The wich epistle as allso the epistles of Iohn and Iudas were once doubted of not as conteining any matter wherof the truethe was vncerteyne but as bookes not knowen to be of lyke force as canonicall scripture in the impugning of haeresies or confirming articles of belefe as al workes be til goddes Church haue published they re authoritye The Churches vse in confiâ—matioÌ„ or publishing off the canonical scripture and declared all thinges in theime conteined to be of the same credet that the spirite of god is and of gospel like truethe And by that authority of the churche what booke so euer be allowed thoughe it was not so taken before yet nowe we muste needes accept it sicut vere est verbum dei as the very worde of God And so be these canonicall epistles and bookes of machabaeis as before is declared Here nowe euery man may learne that it is a very daungerous matter to geue lesse creditt to any of these bookes or wauer in any point of faithe writen in theime for suche felowes iudgements that nowe emongest theime haue lefte vs nether oulde nor newe Testament Suche stubborne bowldenesse hadd these willfull men in manteynaunce of mischeuouse doctrine Whose open impudencie was counted handsom conueyaunce of they re scholers and adherents which were very many notwithstanding the catholike Christian men in all agies bothe meruailed and lamented thiere blyndnes And yet doubtlesse it is not much to be woondered at to see that man flatly forsake the scripture of God who is not abasshed to refuse and condemne that sense and vnderstanding of the scripture whiche the whole churche with all her lerned meÌ„ haue euer alowed and counted most holye Well by the strengthe of this pillare we haue chalenged and saued hetherto for all the barking of bandogges the scripture of God with the knoune meaning thereof And so I trust we shall doo stille from the newe aduersaries by the assured promesse of thassistance of Goddes holy spirite which shall leade vs not onely to the true canonicall scriptures with the sense of the same but allso gyde vs in all trueth necessary for oure saluation Let euery man therefore here take hede how he doubtethe of the knoweÌ„ and certayne sense that the Church of Christe by decree of councell or consent of doctors applieth to any scripture least by mistrusting the sayde sense he go forward vnaduisedly from open deniall of the commoÌ„ A necessary vvarning to fownde a priuat meaning of his owne in the stubborn defense wherof when he shall agaynst the truethe malipertly stande he goeth vnloockely forwarde and at th eÌ„d blasphemously reiectethe the blessed worde and sacred scripture of God as we haue proued the auncyent enimies of truethe to haue doon and as in these newe sect maisters we may to our great dolor see Yet lo eueÌ„ these are they that in all agyes as Vincentius saith flye in they re taulke and teachinge ouer the lawe the prophets the psalmes the gospell That crye oute of pottes and pulpittes nothing but goddes worde the booke of the lorde the testament of Iesus Christ Paule scripture as it may be supposed and as in th ende it is proued to dryue owte of doores Paule scripture Testament and Christ too and not to bring in to the peoples heades or hearts the feare and loue of God the holsom preceptes of Paules heauenly preachinge nor the true meaning of any scripture Who being vrged will rather credet a minstrelles ballat then the Machabeis or best booke in the bible But nowe yowe may see that whiles these meÌ„ thought to saue theyr credets by miscredetting the scripture thy haue wroght so wiesely that they haue lost theyr owne credets bothe in this poynt and in all other for euer And as they hoped by deniall of scripture too cloke theyr erroure they haue woon to theime selues the property of an haeretike by open shewe of they re owne folye That the funeralles of the Patriarches bothe in the lavve of nature and Moyses and Christe had practise in theime for the reliefe of the soules departed Cap. 4. NOwe therfore I haue greate hope to trust so muche of all studiouse readers for that loue whiche they
that one Victor who had made Geminus Faustinus being a priest ageynst the ordre taken in the councell of Aphrik thexecutor of his testament shoulde therfore haue no prayers of the clergye nor facrifice after his departure sayde or doone for him For in that tyme of greate persecution suche instant prayers so often sacrifice the scarsity of ministers the peoples necessity required that the priestes shoulde perpetually with oute all exception of worldly affayers serue the altare But you shall heare this blessed Martyrs or rather his wordes together with the councelles ordinaunce Victor cum contra formam nuper in consilio a sacerdotibus dataÌ„ Geminum Faustinum presbyterum ausus sit actorem constituere non est quò pro dormitione eius apud vos fiat oblatio aut depraecatio nomine eius in ecclesia frequentetur vt sacerdotuÌ„ decretuÌ„ religiose necessariò factuÌ„ seruetur a nobis simul caeteris fratribus detur exemplum ne quis sacerdotes ministros dei altari eius ecclesiae vacantes ad seculares molestias deuocet In englishe thus Seeing victor ageinst the ordre taken of late in a holy synod of priestes hathe made Geminus Faustinus the chefe dooer in th execution of his will and testament lett it be prouided that there be no oblation ther wyth yowe for his rest nor yet any prayers in his behaulfe in the churche that the decrye of the priestes before sayde may be religiously obserued and executed by vs. That therby all other oure bretherne may beware by his example how they wythdrawe suche as should serue the author to entangle theim selues with worldely affayres And here nowe oure aduersaryes must be called vpon and asked howe they can a way with this geare The haeretikes called vpon to ansvver whether this light of truethe be not ouer vehement for they re bleared eyes owle light or mooneshyne I trowe or mirke midnight were more fit for they re darke workes and doctryne oure way is ouer muche trodden for theues All this course of oure cause The vvhole matter ordered to oure hands so agreethe with it selfe so standethe wythe reason so vphoulden by scripture so ordered in all poyntes that Momus him selfe coulde practise no arte nor picke no quarelles here For such we must pray for those we must not praye in this case the sacrifice of goddes churche relieueth the departed in that case it is comfortable onely to the liuynge sum men neede helpe aster their death others helpe we neede and not they oures for open infidelles and haeretikes praiers are not vsed for all secrette offendres bicause their case is not knowne to the church of charity towardes her childreÌ„ she opeÌ„ly prayethe sum she poonishethe sum she pardonethe for al she merueilous teÌ„derly carethe This doctrine of truethe is purposely ordered by our elders euery point is touched and tried to our handes What time of the day was it in goddes church say trueth and shame the deuill when holy Cyprian wrote these thinges when the councell of aphrick decried these thinges when victor was punished by lack of sacrifice and prayers at his departure doeth your time of ignorance which yowe haue lymited for your waulke reache vp so highe in goddes howse but I will spare yow to anone your answer is not redie VVhat that holy sacrifice is vvhiche vvas euer counted so beneficiall to the liue and deade The punishement of oure sinnes by the heuy losse thereof The greate hatered vvhich the diuell and all his side hath euer borne tovvardes Christes aeternall priesthood and the sacrifice of the Churche And that by the saide sacrifice of the Masse the soules departed are especially relieued Cap. 8. ANd now we must faule in hand with the good ChristiaÌ„ Catholike for the searche of this so ofteÌ„ named sacrifice so coÌ„fortable to the liue so profitable to the dead and what that oblatioÌ„ is which the holy catholike and apostolike Church hath euer vsed through oute the world for the sinnes of the departed in place of the offeringes of the lawe and that sacrifice which Iudas Machabaeus made and procured at Hierusalem for the offensies of his people that perished in battle Surely it is no other but the sacrifice of our mediatour as S. Augustine termeth it and the offering vppon the altare It is no other then that obltation which so fully and liuely expressethe the death and passion of Christ Iesus Who being once offered by the sheeding of his blessed bloude for the redemption of man kind hath wrought such a vertuous effect not onely in the holy sacraments for the giuing of grace and remission of sinnes but allso hath lefte in a merueilous mistery his owne holy and blessed body and bloode as wel to feede vpoÌ„ for the especial streÌ„ght and comforth of our soules as to offer vppe the same for the remembrance of his death and cleaÌ„sing of our sinnes Not in that wise as it was doone vpon the crosse by the painefull sheeding of his bloude but as it was instituted first in the last supper Where Christ oure God and redemer according to the order of Melchisedech gaue to his apostles and offered to God the father that body which afterwarde was betraide and the same bloudde which was shed after also for the remission of sin beinge with all tearmed by him the bloude of the newe and aeternall testament as that which in the newe lawe shoulde succeade the bloddy offeringes of the owlde testament Whereof God allmighty being as a man woulld say lothesom or full hathe instituted this by his onely sonne as a most pure and praecious oblation and sacrifice to be continued in the Church through out the costes and corners of the rounde worlde Whiche being celebrated in the blessed memory of his sonnes passion and hauing no other hoste nor oblation then that whiche then was offered can be no other sacrifice then that whiche there was made for the forgiuenesse of sinne and redemption of the worlde The which woorthy action of Christes Churche so fructefully applieth vnto vs the benefite of oure maisters death that thereby we may haue comfortable hope of remission of all such misdeedes as most iustly deserued Goddes wrathe and terrible indignation ageinst vs. Now this is that blessed sacrifice which S. Augustin with feare and reuerence termeth in a thousand places of his works the sacrifice of the Altare the sacrifice of our Mediatour the sacrifice of oure price the sacrifice of the body and bloude of Christ the holsom and proffitable sacrifice the sacrifice of Melchisedech The common names of honoure geuen to the holy masse in olde time the new sacrifice S. Chrisostom the Reuerent sacrifice the honoâ—able Mysteries the Fearefull sacrifice Athanasius the propitiatory sacrifice the vnbloudy Hoste S. Cyprian the sacrifice of the Churche the perpetuall sacrifice the meate offering the medicine for our infirmities Iraeneus the pure sacrifice the new sacrifice of the new testament Clement ageine the vnbloudy sacrifice the rationable
owte 〈◊〉 Sathans bondage and conuerted to thâ—â—elowship of Christes Church and let vs 〈◊〉 thing doubt but that which oure owne â—postles bothe by worde and worke by mâ—â—acle and by martyrdom first proued vnto â—s is the very true and vnfallible faithe oâ— oure Christianitie For if that were not â—ue which at oure first conueâ—sion was preached vnto vs then we â—eceiued nott the faithe but faulshoode aâ— theire handes theÌ„ the histories doo rake a lowdelye in testifiing we were tâ—â—ned to the Christiane faith bothe at that time and by such men then it wer no conuersion froÌ„ heatheÌ„ Idolatrie to the woorship of Christ but it were a chaunge from one superstition to an other and this latter so much worse then the other bicause vnder the name of Christe there were practise perpetual of execrable sacrilege in instituting of a sacrifice to the defasing of our redemption in adoring bare breade as the hoste of our saluation in offering it vppe to God for the sinnes bothe of the quick and dead in practise of vnproffitable praiers for the soules deceased with the like faulse worship of God in all pointes Then theire preaching was highly to Goddes dishonoure pernicious to the people and damnalbe to theime selues Then haue all that euer ranne the rase of that faithe and doctrine till this daie whiche they taught perished withe theime then are they fownd false witnesseis whom we haue accompted as oure vndoubted true and lawfull pastors then God hath purposely deceiued vs with fained miracles full many with numbers off vaine visions then al our labour is lost till this day The holynesse of so many good princies and priestes is praised in vaine the bloude of Martyres shed in vaine the exercise of al sacrameÌ„ts in vaine and bicause all deuotion consisted in our fathers dayes in the earnest zele of so faulse a religioÌ„ as they thinke this to be then the more deuotion the farther from Christ the lesse religion more nere to saluation then happy was he that was the worst and cursed was he that was counted the best then is oure case most carefull then are we worse theÌ„ all other natioÌ„s that neuer receiued the name of Christ then are we worse theÌ„ we were befor our conuersion then to be shorte thereis no religion no Christ no God no hope of saluation All which thinges if they repugne to common sense and reason and to the comfortable hope of oure saluation which we haue receiued from god by Christe Iesus and the assured testimony of the spirite of God that we be a parte of his chosen Churche and sanctified in his holy name by the worde of truethe and lyfe which we by the ordinary ministery of man haue receiued signes and woonders coÌ„firming theire calling and doctrine then this religion which they planted first in our contrie must needes be in al pointes bothe holy true and acceptable vnto God Then as by that religion our fathers were ingraffed first in to Christes body misticall which is the Churche in which till this day they haue kepte the highe way to saluation so who so euer forsaketh this or any principall article or braunche therof and so leauethe that Churche into which we first entered at oure conuersion Note and take heed betime he leaueth assuredly lyfe and saluation and withe out all doubt euerlastingly perisheth AmoÌ„gest which pointes of doctrine oure aduersaries can not denie but the saing masse and offering for the deade the allmose and praiers for the departed was taught withe the firste and proued by miracles withe the rest The which ether to denie were ouer muche discredit of the antiquitye and plaine impudencie or elles to attribute theyme to the diuells woorking were oppen vntollerable blasphemie Yea this doctrine hathe brought the Churche to this bewtifull ordre in all degries as we haue seene All the noble monuments not onely in oure commoÌ„welthe but through Christes churche do beare sufficient testimonie of oure first faithe herin This doctrine as the whole worlde knoweth fouÌ„ded all Bisshoprikes buylded al Churchies raysed al Oratories Yf praing for the deade vvere takeÌ„ avvay there shoulde no steppe of religigion remaine instituted al Collegies indued all Schooles maintened all hospitalles set forwarde al woorkes of charirye and religioÌ„ of what sorte so euer they bee Take a way the praiers and practise for the deade ether al these monumeÌ„ts must fall or elles they must staÌ„d agaynste the first founders will and meaninge Looke in the statutes of all noble foundacions and of all charitable woorkes euer sithe the first daie of oure happy calling to Christes faithe whether they doo not expressely testifie that theire worke of almose and deuotion was for this one especiall respect to be prayde and songe for as they call it after theire deathes Looke whether your Vniuersites protest not this faithe by many a solemne othe bothe priuatly and openlye Looke whether all preachers that euer tooke degrie in the Vniuersity before these yeres are not bounde by the holy euangelistes to pray for certaine noble princies and praelates of this realme All oure superintendents are deeply and daily periured in euery of their sermons at Paules or other placies of name And so often as these preachers doo omit it so often are they periured so often as they ether eate or drinke of theire benefactors cost so often beare they testimony of they re owne damnation Answer me but one question I aske yowe Whether the firste authors of suche benefites as yowe enioye in the Churche at this day A harde question proposed to the ProtestaÌ„t ether of bisshopricke or colledge or any other spirituall liuelyhoodde say yowre mindes vnfeinedly whether they euer meÌ„t that suche men of suche a religion of suche lyfe of suche doctrine should enioye that allmose which they especially ordeined for other men and for contrary purpose say truethe and shame the deuill thoughte they euer to make roume in Collegies for your wiues meÌ„t they euer to mainteine preachinge against the masse against praiers for theire owne soules when they purposely vpon that grounde began so godlye a woorke if they in deede neuer ment it as I knowe theye did not and as your oune consciencies beare witnesse with theim and against your selues that they did not howe caÌ„ yowe theÌ„ for feare of goddes highe displeasure against theire owne willes vsurpe those commodities whiche they neuer ment to suche as yow be A lasse good men thei thought to make frendes of wicked mammon and full dearly with bothe landes and gooddes haue they procured enimies to theire owne soules But if there be any sense in those good fathers and fouÌ„ders as there is and if they be in heauen as they re good deseruing I trust hathe broght theime then surely they accuse yow most iustly of wicked vniustice before the face of God for deluding the people for breaking theire willes for vsurping theire commodities against theire professed mindes and meaninges Or if they be
in hell which God forfende and yet yowe must needes so suppose for raysing the monuments of suche superstition then blotte oute theire memorie and names that haue not onely in theire lyfe mainteyned horrible abusies but allso after theire deathe haue lefte suche open steppes of superstition to all posteritye Suppose I pray yowe which yet I would be lothe shoulde coom to proufe or passe but suppose for all that that with the taking a way of this oulde faithe of praying and offering for the deade all the workes of the same faithe which isshued downe from that fountaine might shrinke with al or returne to the fownders againe bicause there is no rowme to fullfill they re willes howe many Churchies and chappelles what Collegies or hospitalles woulde oure newe no faithe bring forth Would not euery bisshoppes wyfe buylde a Churche thinke yowe or founde a College in such a necessitye lest theire husbandes should be driueÌ„ to serue in a reformed frensh barne Super Aggaeum One of these mock bishoppes complaines very soâ—e in a book of his that men be not now bent with suche zele and deuotion to praeferre goddes honour in maintenaunce of his Ministers as they were in owlde time and as CoÌ„stantinus with the like christiaÌ„ Princies in the primitiue churche were But the good man marked not wherupon this could deuotion arisethe he considerethe not that this is the fructlesse effecte of so idle a faulse faithe as his owne lordship preacheth he woulde not see that the maintenaunce of goddes honoure bothe by liefe landes and gooddes is the peculiare fructe of that charitable louing faith which the Catholikes doo professe he weyed not well that the greate grauntes of Constantinus were made to Syluester Bishop of Rome and not to the maried Bishope of Duresme He remembred not that the like holy workes of the noble kinges of oure owne coontrie were practised vpon suche as woulde professe the trueth and serue the altare and not vpon faulse pastors that were destroyers of all altars Such honorable portions were parted oute for goddes lote and not taken from the world to go to the worldely ageine Thinke you any man wer so minded to take froÌ„ his own wiefe and children ether landes or gooddes to bestow on priestes babbes or bedfellowes No no God knowethe it was separated from theim selues to the sacrifice to the priesthoodde to the honoure of goddes Church and ministerye The which thinges by your owne preaching my lordes decaide would you haue the Prince or peoples deuotion towardes yowe as is was and would be still if you wer like your praedecessors and serued the altare as they did I wisse if the owlde S. Cuthbert Wilfride and William whome they coÌ„pare in holinesse to horsies so good is their opinion of their holy auncieters had bene of the same religion that the occupiers of theire roumes nowe be all the praelates in EnglaÌ„d might haue put theire rentes in a halpeny purse Coom in ageyne coom in for Christes sake com in to the churche ageyne serue the altare and then yow be worthy to lyue of the altare folowe oure fathers and yow shall beloued as oure fathers wer confesse that religion which oure own Apostles first taught and we all haue beleued and all the workes of goddes Churche protest to be true and then yowe shall be blessed of God and honoured of men But let theime thinke on these matters theime selues I will turne ageine to my purpose allthoughe I can not go farre from my matter so longe as I am in the behouldinge of that faithe which oure first preachers broght vnto vs at our first coÌ„uersion or in any stepp of thantiquitye which we wel perceiue to be the fructe onely of that doctrine which we haue declared and an euideÌ„t testimony off so vndoubted a truethe I thinke there is no way so certaine for the contentation of a mannes selfe in this tyme of doubting and diuersitye in doctryne as in all maters to haue an eye towardes the faythe whiche we receiued when we were first conuerted And for that point I woulde wisshe that S. Bedes historye were familiare vnto all men that hathe vnderstanding of the Latine tonge and to all other if it wer possible for there shall they plainely see the first beginning the increase the continuance the practise the woorkes proceding owt of the catholike faithe feare not that is the truethe for that was the first and that was grownded by goddes worde and openly confirmed by miracule And that pointe must be considered not onely for oure owne contrye but for all others that be or hathe bene Christianed For in to the selfe same faithe were they first ingraffed allso â–ª as by the peculiare practising of euery good man towardes his frend and louer I haue alredye declared and nowe for the generall vsage of goddes Church the reader shall at large perceiue that nothing may wante to oure cause whereby any trueth or light may be had That in euery ordre or vsage of celebration of the blessed sacrament and Sacrifice through ovvte the Christian vvorlde since Christes time there hath bene a solemne supplication for the soules departed Cap. 11. THerfore let vs see howe the churche oure moother of her piety vsethe generall supplication in all seruice and solemne administration of the blessed sacrameÌ„t euen for those whole frendes haue forgotten theyme whose paines and trauell worldely meÌ„ remembre not whose obscure condicion of life or pouerty woulde not suffer theime to procure prayers by theire knowne deedes of charity or almose Those men I say that doo lacke singulare patronage of theire frendes those hathe she remembred in the rites of celebration vsed in all contries and in euery age sithens the apostles daies Which ordres of diuine seruice as they haue bene diuerse in forme of wordes so they perfectly and wholy agreed in the substance of the sacrifice in praying and offering for the deade and supplication to sanctes as thowe shalt streght waies by theire vsed ordre of wordes perceiue And as we go forward herein euer let vs beare this rule in minde Quòd legeÌ„ credendi lex statuit supplicandi in that sense speaketh S. Augustine So saith S. Augustin ofteÌ„ against the Pelagians often against haeretikes the ordre of the churches praier is euer a plaine praescription for all the faithefull what to belieue And the motherlye affection that the Churche bearethe towardes al her children departed the saide doctor thus expresseth De cura pro mort Non sunt praetermittendae supplicationes pro spiritibus mortuorum quas faciendas pro omnibus in Christiana Catholica societate defunctis etiam tacitis nominibus quorumcunque sub generali commemoratione suscepit ecclesia vt quibus ad ista desunt parentes aut filij aut quicunque cognati vel amici ab vna eis exhibeantur pia matre communi That is to say in oure tonge Prayer must not be omitted for the soules departed which the
the oblatiō of that holy host for the quick and dead both namely for certaine and generally for all departed in Christe a solemne praier and supplication Which no doubt Christ instituted at his last supper which the holy goste afterward secretly suggested to the Apostles whiche they againe faithfully deliuered to the nations conuerted by their preaching and to diuerse of theire owne disciples by whom the same was deriued downe to our daies taught in all natiōs and carefully practised of al people Whereof we haue worthy witnessies for all contries allmost For so the godly doctors Tertuliā Cypriā Augustin both taught and worshipped in Africke the same doothe Hierō and Damascene in Syria Origen and Athanasius in Egypte Denyse the auncient and Bernarde in Fraunce Chrisostome in in Thrase Basil and his bretherne in Cappadocia Ambrose and Gregory the greate in Italy Augustine oure Apostle and Bede in oure contrie of England with the rest of all nations baptized whome I named before and might doo yet a numbre what shoulde I say a numbre all that euer were cownted Catholikes since the beginning were of the same sense in that cause And to name the residew where these do not serue it were lost labour For whome they can not moue I can not tell what may perswade him in any matter Or if he dare not bestowe his credet on these mens doinges whome may he salfely trust Yff the communion and faithefull felowship of so many godly and gracious men so vniformely consentinge bothe in the teaching and practising of this matter can not sattell and quiet a mannes conscience who can appeace his disquieted vnstedfast minde and cogitation If in the construing of Goddes worde and scriptures so many of suche graue idgement of so approued wisedom of so passing learning of such earnest studyie in triall of the truethe of so vertuous a liefe of so heauenly a gifte and grace in the expounding of Goddes worde may not be salfely folowed in this oure searche whome should we folowe or to whome shoulde the simple addicte theime selues in so greate a turmoyle of learned men one sort craking so fast of scripture and the other sort when the matter commes to triall alleaging so many with so auncient and graue testimony for the true meaninge of the same to which I say is it wisdom to geue cōsent and credet yf not to suche as faithfully bothe folowe and recite the scripture withe the agreement of the worlde for the true sense thereof S. Augustine writing against Parmenianus the Donatiste much wonderethe in that cleare light of truethe and the Churchies doctrine the heretikes coulde be blinde or not see the euidence of that whiche all tbe worlde but theime selues sawe And in many placies he reakeneth the most horrible poonishment in the world Lib. 2. cap. 3. contra epistolam Parmeniani to be the caecity and blindnesse which God stricketh the stubborne mannes hearte with all in forsaking the feloweship of the Churcheis childrē But he that cōsidereth the processe of oure cause may a thowsand times more maruaile and feare Goddes heuy iudgemēt in the blinding of the disobediēt mennes heartes and sensies for sinne If they theyme selues were of their consciencyes examined what elles they would wisshe for the triall of any doubte I am sure they coulde name no one pointe nor any meanes in the worlde which our cause woulde not suffer and admitte For by what waye so euer any truethe in Goddes Churche was seuerally in the auncient times auouched against the aduersary haeretike I am sure we haue the same with the aduauntage And for this last point of prayers in the Massies of all nations it is so euident that no man can gaine saye it and so generally pactised that the vsage of praying coulde in no matter euer so clearely set owte the certaintie of oure beliefe as in this The haeretikes of oure tyme and contry be yet further vrged vvith the practise of praiers for the deceased theire contrary communion is compared vvith the oulde vsage of Celebration They are ashamed of the firste originall of theire Christian faithe they are vveery of theire ovvne seruice they are kepte in ordre by the vvisdom of the Ciuile magstrates and are forced flatly to refuse all the doctors Cap. 12. THe chiefe argument that the Churche of god vsed in oulde tyme against Pelagius thenimy of goddes grace was this that at the holy altare the Priest praied to god for to conuert heretikes and infidiles to the faithe and euell liuers wicked conuersation to vertue and honesty the which prayers had bene to no purpose if the grace of God had not borne the principall stroke in the chaunging of mānes harte But being assured of this as a groūde that the prayer of the Prieste in the whole Churchies name at the altare can not but beare singulare strenghte and truethe it is necessarily cōcluded that seeing the publike minister so praieth that we must needes beleeue that God hathe mannes hearte in his hand and may turne it to the beliefe of his worde or loue of his will as he liketh and listethe not withstanding the perfect freedom of mānes wil which by goddes grace is neuer perished but alwaied perfected And in this assured foundation of the publke praiers S. Augustine who then was the souldier of grace so triumphed against one Vitalis a Pelagiā that he ringeth him this peale Exerce contra oratio nes ecclesiae disputationes tuas quando audis sacerdotem dei ad altare exhortantem populum dei orare pro incredulis subsanna pias voces ecclesiae dic te non facere quod hortatur Epist. 107. contra Vital homo in Carthgaiensi cruditius ecclesia etiam beatissimi Cypriani librum de oratione dominica condemna Holde on felowe exercise thy contentious taulke against the vsuall praiers of goddes Churche and when thowe hearest the Priest of God at is altare exhort the people to pray for the misbeleuers scoffe at the holie wordes and make him answer thow willte not pray as he biddes the And being broght vppe in the Churche of Carthage condemne with all S. Cyprians worke vpon oure Lordes praier wherin he teacheth the same I tary nowe the longer on this point that thowe maist learne to kepe an haeretike at the bay and to fasten thy stroke so surely vpon him that which way so euer he shift he shall beare thy blowe vpō his neck and shoulders It is not for oure cause taken in hand that I nowe so muche trauell for that is longe sith made sure enoghe for all the diuels in hell or theire folowers in earthe But I would in this one example of praying for the deade geue the studious a taste of all suche waies as the truethe of all other pointes in controuersy may be bothe surely defended and so planely proued and vpholden that the aduersary shall not be able to say baff vnto any one of the leaste of all the groundes
qualities in theire daies yet truethe folowing tyme theire fame raised vpon so light causies easely decayd and the grownde of perpetuall infamie sattled in wise mens heartes by the wickednesse of theire attemptes remained for a testimony to all posteritye of theire shame and ignominye And this I speake not onely of the authors of oure common sectes for they neuer atteined to any shade of famous report in theire daies bicause they coulde deceiue none but simple weemen but I meane by Arius him selfe and Pelagius with the lyke who in theire owne time being of greate aesteme emōgest many whom they deceiued yet after their death more and more they grew to shame and infamie so farre that who so euer were of theire opiniōs afterward durste not yet for shame vse their name or authority for proufe of their own doctrine See yow not in our daies how freshe the name of Luther Caluin Buser with that rable was emongest the rude people whome they had woonne ether with speache or pleasure of licentious doctrine and lo nowe it decayeth in a maner or their bones be coulde The peoples sensies raueshed with the praesent pleasure of suche as they heard last lyke theyme so longe as they heare theime afterwarde theire memory remaineth onely to malediction Vidi im pium superexaltatum eleuatum sicut Cedros Libani Psal 36. transiui ecce non est quaesiui non est inuentus locus eius I haue seene the wicked exalted and set vppe as the cedre treese of libanus I passed by and loe owt of hand he is no body I sought him and his abyding can not be fownde Who so euer shall seeke for our glorious preachers with in this C. yeare he shall find theime in suche estimation then as theire forefathers be nowe that is to say to be vnworthy the naming of theire owne adherents if any of that secte liue and last so longe For let theime neuer look to com to the infamous fame of Arrius the best of all these secte maisters not worthy to be scholare to a hundreth of his folowers Thus loe is the case of haeretikes liked of fooles when they be alieue contemned of all men whē they are deade Now in the doctors of Goddes Churche it is cleane contrarie and no lesse worthy to be noted for oure purpose for theire honoure and estimation rising vpon the sure vnfallible grownde of Goddes truethe by yeares and time gathereth suche force that not onely theire memorie is in perpetuall benediction before God but theire woorkes folowe theyme in the mindes of theire posterity to theire owne aeternall praise and benefite of all theire folowers And which is muche more to be wondered at they haue so passed enuy and malice of man that euen those whiche deadly hate theyme dare not but praise theyme And suche as mislike theire doctrine and knowe of theire owne conscience that they be directly ageinste theim yet dare not openly charge theime withe faulshoode as they doo vs theire scholars but rather as I sayde seeke sum sentence owte of theime to helpe theire owne cause then with theire plaine condemnation of faulshode to refuse their authoritie S. Augustine busyed much with the Pelagians and charged by theime in disputation that he defended the Manicheis doctrine concerning originall sin for his defense and warraunt proueth vnto theime that Sancte Ambrose taught the same doctrine that he did and yet they durste not be so bowlde to call him a Manichie Dic huic Ambrosio si audes quae mihi tam petulanter obiectas Thow haeretike saith he say the same by S. Ambrose if thow dare for shame whiche thowe so saulsely and wantonly obiectes to me Lib. 2. cōtra Iulian. Looke I pray yowe Ambrose was but newe deade when his onely name did feare the heretike when other alyue of as good lerning was contemned of him and by wordes of reproche charged with the Manichaeis sect who was a wyked man of horrible sectes not long before those dayes Pelagius owte of doubt thought no better of Ambrose and Cyprian deade thē he did of Augustine and Innocentius a liue bicause they re doctrine was all one but yet the men departed wer of more authority in goddes churche then the liuing of whose continuance to the ende men were vncertayne before the proufe thereof and they re wordes being deade might easely be wrasted to sum shew of they re purpose when the authority off the lyuing coulde not admitte any suche faulse dealinge theime selues bearing witnesse of the meaning of theire owne wordes Well then oure doctoures of goddes Churche being all of holy aestimation and blessed memory doo so dase the eyes euen of theire owne aduersaries that being of the very same doctrine that we who by Goddes grace be membres of the Catholike Church be of yet they are past the malice of those which like not theire dooing and doctrine For the heretikes well knowing theim to be the authors or at the least especiall mainteiners of this oure assertion of the valewe of praiers and the holy sacrifice for the departed yet they dare not but clokedly reprehende theyme when they flowe ageinst the poore Catholikes nowe alyue withe wordes off infinite blasphemye and sclaunderous reproche Therfore I now will call vpon theime with S. Augustines wordes Coom on all the packe of yow who so euer is the prowdest protestant vpō the earth call if he dare S. Denise Sanct Clement Athanas Chrisostom Ambrose Gregory Bede we are not ashamed of theire names as yowe be of your Maisters Call these papistes for praying for theire frendes call theime Idolaters call theime superstitious call theime enimies of Christes passion say they be iniurious to his death by prouiding a newe sacrifice for sin tell theime they inuented Anniuersaries monthes mindes and yearly offeringes for theire own gayne call theime masse mungers call theime blynde gydes No yowe dare not for your eares yowe dare not disprayse oure heuenly gydes yowe dare not once name your owne Suche force hath the truethe and such feare there is in faulshood and yet these doctors must needes be in a thousande times worse case then wee be if the doctrine of purgatory and prayers be not true We may be saued or at least reasonably excused by folowing they in leading vs in faulshod cā haue no excuse of theire impietye But howe gladde may all we Catholikes be in oure heartes that haue the full consent of all theime in the proufe of oure belyfe oute of whose workes the aduersaries woulde be gladde of one lyklye sentence And whose lyfe and doctrine are so glorious in goddes Churche that theire oune aduersaries raling at vs alyue yet dare not but with greate feare once blemish theire names departed Thoughe sumtimes it brastithe oute in sum one of theime to their owne miscredit So beutifull is the light of trueth And on the other side howe miserable is theire carefull case that folowe and defend that doctrine the authors wherof they
the happy case of all those that dye in the fauoure of God and assurance of their saluatiō thoughe they abyde sharpe but swhete paine of fatherly discipline for theire better qualifiyng to the ioyes prepared for theime and all other the elect So that nowe the mouing of these doubtes hathe so little aduauntaged our aduersaries that it hathe sumwhat geuen occasion of forther declaration of oure matter then otherwise perchaunce we shoulde haue hadde An ansvver to theire negatiue argument vvith the Conclusion of the booke Cap. 17. BVt yett one common engine they haue as well for the impugnation of the truethe in this point as for the sore shakinge of the weake waules of the simples faithe all most in all their fight that they kepe against the Catholikes Which thoughe it be not stronge yet it is a merueilous fit reasoning for so fond a faithe For if thowe caste an earnest eye vpon theire whole doctrine thowe shallte finde that it principally and in amaner wholy constithe in taking a waye or waasting an other faithe that it fownde before◠Theire nevve no faithe is vphoulden by a negatiue argument so that the preachers thereof must euer be destroyers pluckers downe and rooters vp of the truethe grownded before Will yowe see then what a protestants faithe and doctrine is deny only and make a negation of som one article of oure beliefe and that is a forme of his faithe which is lightelye negatiue There is no free will ther is no woorkes needefull to saluation A protestantes Crede there is no Churche knowne there is no chiefe gouernour therof there be not 7. sacraments they do not conferre gratiam geue grace Baptisme is not necessary to saluation Christe is not present on the aultare there is no sacrifice there is no preesthood there is no altare there is no profit in prayers to sanctes or for the dead there is no purgatory Christe went not downe to hel there is no limbus finallye yf yow liste go forwarde in your negatiue faithe there is no hell there is no heauen there is no God Do yow not see here a trim faith and a substantiall looke in Caluins institutions and yowe shall find the whole frame of this waasting faithe There is nothing in that blasphemous boke nor in their apologies but a gathered bodie of this no faithe For so it must needes be that teacheth no truthe but pluckethe vppe a that truth wiche before was planted Is it not a prety doctrine that Caluine makes of the sacraments when he tellethe not the force of any of theime all but onely standethe like a fearce monstruous swhine rootyng vppe oure fathers faithe therin This negatiue faith hath no grownd nor confidence of thinges to be hoped for nor any certayntye of suche thinges as doo not yet appeare but it is an euident ouerthrowe of all our hope and a very canker of thexpectation of thinges to coom This faith therfor of these pluckers downe must needes vse a convenient instrumēt to destroye and not to builde to plucke vp and not to plāte to improue and not to make profe But what way is that Like faith like argument mary by way of negatiue profe they cōfirme theire negatiue and no faith Purgatory say they nor prayers for the dead be not so much as once named in all the scripture ergo there is nether of theime to be beleued Which forme of argument serued the Arians against the consubstantiall vnitye of God the father and his son our sauiour It helped the Anabaptistes against the baptisme of infantes it was proffitable to Heluidius against the perpetual virginitie of goddes moother and it helpeth all pluckers downe but it neuer seruith a buylder The vanity wherof is so wel knowne that I will not stand to talke therof namely seeing it hathe no place in our cause for which we haue broughte diuerse scriptures all construed by most learned fathers for that sense and som so euident that they droue our aduersaries to the open deniall of the holy canonicall scripture But yet one of these ouerthrowers frameth as he supposethe his negatiue argument Maister Grindall in his funerall sermon to the more sure shake of oure faithe herein after this sorte In the owlde lawe all sacrificies and expiations bothe appointed and reakoned euen for the smaulest offensies that mā coulde committ yet there was neuer no sacrifice for the purgation of the deade How Lorde lyke Master Grindall made his Argument here Where he shoulde plainely haue inferred the contrarye after this sorte There was no sin so smaule vnpardoned but there was sum sacrifice of release or expiation thereof in the owlde lawe ergo if any man weere bounde with sin weere it neuer so smaule whether he were alyue or deade there was sum appointed purgation therefore For there is no consequence nor any apparance of right deduction to inferre vpon the naming or rehersall of all sinnes the peculiare mentioning or plaine rehersal of suche persons as may be burdened with those sinnes There were sacrificies then in the owlde law for weemen as well as men for the Princies no lesse then for the poore for the priest and for the people for the dead as well for the lyue And where there was no difference nor respecte of persons in that pointe there was no peculiare mention to be made for the distiction of states The peculiare rehersall therefore was onely made for the diuersity of offensies and not allwaies for the difference of persons And nowe the departed in faithe being but distincted by state of lyfe and not by bonde of sin from those that be alyue must needes in the case of lyke sinne for the vnitye whiche he is in haue the lyke remedy as the lyeue hath for the same sinne Note And therefore to help your ignorance sum thing thus yowe must learne that there was no peculiare sacrifice for the dead as thoughe they were not of the common body with the liuinge but they had the same sacrifice doone for theime that the liuing in this worlde in the like case of sin or pounishement for offensies had Do yowe not see Goddes Churche Master Grindall sacrifice for the deade One sacrifice for the lyue and the deade but not for theyme by a peculiare meanes of offeringe but the very self same oblation she euer vsethe for her Children departed that she practisethe for her faithfull flocke a lyue And in all other practises there is a perfecte communitye of all benefites betwixte the deceased and theire bretherne remayning yet in this worlde And therefore when yow seeke for sacrifice in the oulde law looke not for any distincte waye of handeling theire offensies which is not common with the lyuing But consider what there was practised for the release of the smaller trespassies and that was vsed for bothth liue and dead withoute distinction Marke what sacrifice was for the abating of any pain due for great offensies and the same