Two Treatises Against the Papists, Book 2 · Chapter 4
That the funeralls of the Patriarches, both in the lavve of nature, and Moises, and Christ, had practise in them for the reliefe of the soules departed. CAP. IIII.
1 NOw therefore, I hauehave great hope to trust so much of all studious readers, for that louelove which they beare vntounto truth, that they will geue creditte to the manifest wordes of Scripture, which so plainly doe set forth, not onelyonly the benefite that ariseth to the departed by prayers, but also witnesse, that there was practise at Ierusalem by oblation and sacrifice for the same purpose,Iudas follovved the order of the church, and not prescribed to the Church any nevv sacrifice or ceremony. by order of their law. For otherwise, would that good knight so highly commended, neuer hauehave presumed to bring in, any superstitious new vsage contrary to the rule of that Church, neither would the Priestes at Ierusalem hauehave offered for the dead without contradiction, vnderunder the gouernment of so good a bishop: neither would the Author of she booke, vponupon so light a beginning hauehave praysed the fact: or otherwise made mention of it, then as of a new deuise of the same man. VVhom I doubt not therefore, rather to hauehave followed the continuall custome of the Church, then to hauehave inuented any newe vnknowne order of his owne.
VVhichWhich may well appeare at this day, by the ceremonies and sacrifices of the olde lawe, yet superstitiously obserued emongest the dispersed Iewes: where, emongest other rites of their lawe,De vniuersa iudeorū fide. recitatur a Groppero in lib. de Eucharist. they offer and make solemne supplication for the soules departed: as Antonius Margarita, a Iewe that forsooke his profession, and became Christian, witnesseth in a booke that he made of the faith of the Iewes. VVhere he reporteth out of their sacrifice, this prayer. Deus animarum fidelium recordetur, & in paradisum cum Abraham, Isaac, & Iacob, alijsque integerrimis sanctis collocet: that is: Lord remember the faithfull soules, and place them in paradise with Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, and other thy perfect Sainctes and holy men. And for that purpose they hauehave a memoriall booke, as he sayth, out of which the names of the departed are yerely recited. But we much neede not this report herein: for that may well appeare to hauehave bene vsed long before Iudas Machabaeus his dayes.
For what other thing doth that long mourning, fasting, charitable releuing of the poore, and other common afflictions which men tooke vponupon them, at the obites of their friendes and fathers, as well in the law of nature, as afterward continually in Moises time, what else can they meane but perpetual practise for the rest of their soules?Genes. 23. Looke how religiously Abraham celebrated the rites of his wiues funerall, which the Scripture calleth Officium funeris, the office of the Buriall, which he fulfilled by weeping and lamentation made ouer the corps.
Neither can I thinke, that the office and iust funeralls stoode in mourning or sorowyng without praying, or other remedies of reliefe towardes the departed, seeing especially that office of mourning, by solemne dirigies, as we nowe tearme them, had place, time, and ordre, by rule appointed to be executed: yea and were not ended by many dayes together, nor at one time nother. As it appeareth that Ioseph and his brethern,Genes. 50. executed their fathers funeralls, first fourty dayes in Aegypte, and then in their owne country, celebrabant exequias saith the text, seuen dayes together. So the children of Israel celebrated Moyses obsequies,Deut. 34. with thirty dayes solemne mourning, in the downes of Moab. Not by that weeping which procedeth of priuate affection towardes a mans friende, for that can not be limited, nor yet prescribed by rule, as all these solemne dirigies were. But questionlesse this office conteined for the reliefe of the deceased, almes, prayer, fastes, and teares: all which may well be termed mourning songes or weeping ouer the dead,Eccles. 22. for that time most cōuenient. Of which the wise man geueth this precept, Super mortuū plora, VVeepe ouer the departed.
And that thou maiest well perceiue, these publike rites of solemne dirigies, to perteine properly to the due helpe of those, for whome they be exercised, S. Ambrose doubteth not to affirme, that of those burialls in the lawe of nature,Super obit Theod. the necessary obseruation of our Christian dayes, monthes, and yeares mindes kepte for the deade, had their beginning: saying thus in his funerall sermon, made the fourtith daye solemnely kept, for the memory of the noble Emperour Theodosius, Eius Principis & proxime conclamauimus obitum, & nunc quadragesimum celebramus, assistente sacris altaribus Honorio principe, quia sicut sanctus Ioseph, patri suo Iacob quadraginta diebus humationis officia detulit, ita & hic Theodosio patri iusta persoluit: & quia alij tertium & trigesimum, alij septimum & quadragesimum obseruare consueuerūt, quid doceat lectio consideremus: defuncto inquit Iacob praecepit Ioseph pueris sepultoribus vt sepelirēt eum, & repleti sunt ei quadraginta dies. Haec ergo sequenda solemnitas quam prescribit lectio. Bonus itaque Ioseph, qui formam pio muneri dedit, &c. VVe kept of late the day of this noble kinges buriall, And now againe we celebrate his fourtith dayes mind, the prince Honorius his sonne assisting vsus before the holy altares: for as holy Ioseph bestowed vponupon his fathers funeral fourty dayes dutie, euen so doth this prince procure his fathers obsequies. And because some obserue the thirde day and the thirtith, other kepe customably the vij. and the fourtith, let vsus looke vponupon the text: which readeth thus: Iacob being departed, Ioseph commaundeth the prouisours of the sepulture, to bury him: and so they did, and made vp full fourty dayes in that obite, this solemnity then must we fellowe, prescribed by the scripture. Good was this Ioseph, that first gaue vsus the forme and fashion of so holy a function. By these wordes we see the antiquity of our Christian dirigies, and diuersitie of dayes, as yet it is vsed in mounthes or twelue mounthes mindes, to hauehave ishued downe from S. Ambrose time to ours, from the lawe of nature by the Patriarches prescription, to his dayes:Geneua booke appointeth a still buriall. not by mourning and mumchaunse as the buriall of Geneuas booke appointeth, but at the holy altares these obites were kepte, as with deuoute prayers, and sacrifice. VVhereof in better place, I shall speake more anone. He alludeth there also, to our dilexi: and other Psalmes which we yet singe in Gods Church, ouer the departed.
CAP. IIII.
1 WHen you hauehave perforce as you phantysie made a breatch in that strong walle that enuironed the canonicall scriptures, and made a great seperation between them and all other writing, by thrusting in the abridgmēt of Iasons storie among them, now as though you had taken the citye, you make spoile and hauoke, with out all order or honesty of all that liketh you within the compasse of holy writ and with out. Nowe burialls, mournings, almes, fasting, festing, building, times and seasons all are youres. But he that longeth to hauehave his splene or his gaule moued, let him reade these discourses following, if he list to laugh at foolish arguments let him come hether, if he wilbe angry with frowarde applications of the scripture here can he not wante occasion. And first he hopeth that all they that louelove the trueth will fauor his cause, when they heare out of the scriptures, that sacrifice for the deade, was offered at Ierusalem by order of the lawe? By order of the lawe M. Allen? shew me one iote or title of the lawe to approue sacrifice for the deade. Et eris mihi magnus Apollo, & Phyllida solus habebis, and I will worshippe your wordes as an oracle, and confesse that you onelyonly hauehave the trueth. I know your aunswere: you hauehave no writing, but you hauehave good reasons, for so good a knight, so many priestes, so good a bishop, such an author woulde neuer hauehave allowed it, if it had not bene according to the lawe of God. Touching your authour we hauehave saide enough already, As for the good knight Iudas, was not so suer of falling, but Dauid a better knight then he, transgressed the lawe of God, to carry the arke vponupon a new chariotte, which shoulde hauehave bene borne vponupon mens shoulders, 1. Chron. 13. wherein not onelyonly Dauid, but so many Priestes, and Leuites, so good a bishop, and the whole generall councell of Israell did erre. Here was neither Zadocke, nor Abiather, nor Abinadab, nor Gad, nor Nathan or any other that made contradiction, vntill God him selfe shewed his displeasure by killing of Vzza But because M. Allen thinketh the bishop being so good a man, woulde neuer hauehave consented to it, if it had bene euill. I woulde aske of him, who was bishop or high priest then, that he was so good a bishop, and so worthy of his commendation. Suerly if he were a good man, he was much to blame to suffer any such thing to be done, in the temple of God, which was not appointed by the lawe of God. But if he were a wicked and an vngodly man, by M. Allens owne reason, it is not vnlike, but that he woulde for the gaine of 2000 drachmes of siluer, suffer such a superstitious newe vsage contrary to the lawe. Now because M. Allen sayeth he was so good a bishop, let him chose which it was of these 3. that satte on the seate of the high priest all the time that Iudas had any dignity amonge the people, namely Iason, Menclaus and Alcinus, let him take the beste of them (although it appeareth by the story that Menaelaus the worst of them all three, was Byshop in that tyme) and he shall see, that no man euer (except he were willfully disposed to lye) would bestow such commendation vppon him as M. Allen doth, to call him so good a Bishop, and to defend the gouernment of so good a Bishop from suffering any superstitious vsage contrary to the law, when they were all three open transgressors forsakers of the law: And what the Priestes of that time were, let his owne author declare, 2. Mach. 4. The priestes were now no more diligēt about the seruice of the aultar, but despised the temple, and regarded not the sacrifices, but made hast to be partakers of the wicked expenses at the play, after the casting of the stone. These were those reuerend Priestes of those dayes, not vnlike your hedge Priestes of popery. And although Iudas did afterward make a peece of reformation, after the horrible prophaning of the temple, and the lawes through cruell persecution, yet these Priestes were not therby sodenly chaunged into godly men carefull for the sinceritie of Gods law: but were redy like the reformed popish Priestes that we hauehave seene in our tyme, to doe what so euer the Prince hath commaunded, & to be as ready againe to doe the contrary at an other Princes commaundement. In such a time, & vnderunder so wicked a Priest, no maruell, if such corruption did enter. Moreouer, the fact of Iudas fauoureth not the popish purgatory, where none but veniall and light sinnes are expiable, but those that were slayne, for whom the same offering was made, dyed in deadly sinne as appeareth by the story, they had vnderunder their coates Iewels, consecrated to Idolls, which was so heynous an offence that Iudas feared that they should hauehave bene all vtterly destroyed for their fault, and therefore it might seeme, that he caused the sacrifice to be offered not so much to pacifie God for them that were killed, as to purge them selues of that pollution and prophanation, sauing that the author of the booke expoundeth that fact otherwise. And whereas M. Allen sayth, that prayer for the dead is yet vsed of the Iewes. They that hauehave as good cause to know their custome as he, affirmeth contrary. He citeth Antonius Margarita turned from a Iewe to a Papiste which auoucheth the same. The rabbins in their writings, when they speake of any that is dead, they onelyonly blesse his memory, and in the booke of their common praiers, and ceremonies printed in the hebrew tongue there is no such forme of prayer to be found for the deade. But if any of them (as they doe in many ceremonies papizare) hauehave learned the superstition of the Papistes, it is not this alone that they hauehave contrary to the word of God. But lette vsus come to the matter of this chapter, M. Allen asketh what other thing doth all the mourning, fasting, and other ceremonies of burying meane, but a practise for the rest of their soules? I aunswere with distinction, because his question is with confusion: partly they meane, that those which did such thinges lamēted for the departure of so excellent men, partly they ment to shew their hope of their resurrection, mourning & fasting were to expresse their sorrow, the other ceremonies were to declare that mens bodies should rise againe. As for almes I find not that it was vsed at burialls. But what meane you M. Allen (if you be not out of your wittes) to imagine prayer for the dead to be practised at those burialls? when in so many burialls as are rehearsed in the Scriptures, with all ceremonies vsed about them, neuer is there one word, nay not one sillable, to proue prayer for their soules. And yet as a man with a marble face, you are not ashamed to affirme, that rites, offices, diriges, obites, trentalls, &c. were practised by them, for the reliefe of the soules in purgatory. It may be that much of your paultry, by fond imitation was taken of such doings to counterfet the examples of the Patriarkes: (but once againe I say) there is no mention in al the Scripture of prayer for …he dead at any burial. Wherfore the authoritie of Ambrose helpeth you litle, who although he commendeth Honorius for solemnising the funeralls of Theodosius by the space of 40. dayes, after the example of Ioseph, yet he sayth not, that prayer for the deade was taken by the example of Ioseph. But see M. Allen (if you can see any thing) whether blind affection carieth you, that you can not vnderstand the playne latine of Ambrose, or else will not translate it a right. Ambrose speaketh not of his fortieth dayes minde, but of the solemnitie of his funerall kept 40. dayes togither, as in the embalming of Iacobs body was by Ioseph. But to say the truth, how simple a reason this was, to take example of, for the time of solemnitie of funeralls, it is playne by that place which Ambrose allegeth, where it is sayd that 40. dayes were bestowed, by the Phisitions or Apothecaries in embalming the body of Iacob, to keepe it long from putrefaction. And how slenderly he reproueth them that kept 7. dayes funeralls, where if his reason were good by example of Iosephs Poticaries to keepe 40. dayes, theirs were better by example of Ioseph him selfe to keepe 7. dayes. These be the groundes of such superstitions as crept into the Church, first by emulation of the Paganes, and after seeking for colourable confirmation in the examples of the Patriarkes. For auoyding of all which inconueniences that hauehave risen and may rise, by ceremonies practised at burialls, the Church of Geneua very wisely & godly, vseth no more ceremonies in burying their deade, then are conuenient for the reuerent laying vp of the corps which is ordayned to ryse agayne with glory. Whose still buriall is better then your yelling and howling, and their mumming (if you will needes so terme it) more commendable, then you masking.
2 But in the second booke of the Kinges▪ the example of the holy King Dauid is a playne proofe that they fasted also for the deceased. Apprehendens Dauid vestimenta sua, scidit: Cap. 1.omnesque viri qui cum eo erant: & planxerunt, & ieiunauerunt vsque ad vesperam super Saul & Ionathan filium eius, Fasting for the departed.& super populum, & super domum Israel, eo quod corruissent gladio. And Dauid taking holde of his garmentes tore them: and so did the men with him, and they howled, wept and fasted vponupon Saul and Ionathas his sonne, with the residue of Gods people, that there were slaine. Now what other thing did Dauid here and his people, but that which Iudas Machabeus did afterwarde, for the like death of his souldiars? I trowe there was no fasting to be found ouer any maner a person, lyue or dead, for thy selue, or other, in the whole course of scripture, but it was to obteine mercy at Gods hande, towardes the partie for whome thou didest it. So did this same holy Prophet weepe, fast,2. Reg. 12. lye on the grounde, and change apparell, for his childe, which he begat of Vrias wife, when he lay at the point of death, stricken by Gods hande for the punishment of his fathers faulte. The which he did, as he protesteth him selfe, to turne the angry sentence of God if it might be, and recouer the childe againe. But as soone as the childe was gone, he brake of his longe fast, geuing his frendes to weete, that he tormented not him selfe so, of onelyonly naturall compassion towardes the childe, or inordinate lous, as they thought, but to obteine his purpose by such bitter teares, and fasting, at Gods handes, for the childs recouery.
Fasting then ouer any man, and such solemne mourning, is nothing els, but an effectuall asking of mercy, for whome so euer it be done. As more plainely it is yet declared, in the buriall of Saul and Ionathas before said,1. Reg. 31. celebrated by the Galadites and Saules souldiars: VVhere, as the scripture sayth, after they had buried their bodies and bones, they fasted vij. dayes. Et ieiunauerunt septem diebus. For no other cause, but thereby effectually to aske pardon of their offensies. There can I am sure be no reasonable occasion of their fasting alleaged of no man, but that which the honorable Bede testifieth for vsus in these wordes. Recte & ad literam pro mortuis vt ad requiem peruenire valeant septem diebus ieiunatur, quia post sex huius mundi aetates, in quibus in carne laboramus, septima est in illo saeculo aetas requictionis animarum carne exutarum, in qua beatae tempus illud glorificum, quando resurgere mereantur expectant. Duely and according to the letter, they fasted (sayth he) for the departed, seuen dayes together, to obteine rest for them: because after the six ages of the worlde, in which we trauell in flesh, the seuenth age is looked for in that worlde, when the soules be loosed from their bodies, when the blessed and happy sort, shall continually be in expectation of the glorious time, by receiuing their bodies in the resurrection againe.
2 As we hauehave had prayer for the dead, so now we shal hauehave fasting for the deade. In deede the wordes sounde more like such a matter then any thing that can be sayed of prayer for the deade. But the sence is euident, they fasted not for them to redeme their soules, but they fasted, to declare their sorrow, because they were slaine with the sworde as it followeth in plaine wordes. And yet to make the matter more plaine, in the same Chapter followeth a large forme of lamētation made by Dauid for them, where if euer he had vsed prayer for the deade, he woulde hauehave vsed it: if not for his father in lawe Saule, yet at leste for his dearly beloued and sworne brother Ionathas. But no such thing came in his minde, as M. Allen foolishly fantysieth of him. But M. Allen sayth this matter is more plainly proued, by the Galaadites, that fasted seuen dayes after the buriall of Saule and Ionathas, and he is suer, there can no reasonable cause be alleaged of their fasting, but onelyonly to aske pardon for their sinnes. I take this to be a more resonable cause, that they fasted and humbled them selues before God, because they did see the wrath of God against the whole people in the calamitie of the king & his sonne, whose contumelious hādling by the vncircumcised, stretched to the dishonor of God. And this was cōmon among the Israelites in any great calamitie or daunger, or to shew their sorrow for prophanation of Gods glory. And any of these are more reasonable causes, then the superstitious surmise of Beda, with his curious conceit of the six ages of the worlde, where other make seuen and eight ages.
3 And that charitable reliefe of the poore, by open almes and doles, was also practised for the welth of the departed in the obittes of olde time, the scripture it selfe in the fourth chapter of Tobie maketh mention,Tobiae. 4. by report of that godly commaundemēt, that the good olde father gaue is sonne herein: Panem tuum cum esurientibus comede, & de vestimē …is tuis nudos tege. Panem tuum & vinum tuum super sepulturam iusti constitue, & noli ex eo manducare & bibere cum peccatoribus. Eate thy breade with the hongry and needy, and couer with thy clothes the naked. Set thy breade and wine vponupon the sepulture of the vertuous & make not the sinnefull partaker therof, which wordes of exhortation can hauehave no other sense, but that, as before in the same place, he gaue his sonne in charge to bestow vppon all men according to his hability, for that there was hope to all charitable almes giuers of Gods mercy, so now he warneth him to feede the poore, and breake his breade to such especially, as should come to the iustes and funeralls of the departed. He would neuer hauehave put him in minde to hauehave releeued the poore at burialls, but for some commodity that might arise to the party deceased. for othe…wise his charity might hauehave proffeted the needy at other times as well as vponupon mens departure. Some tooke foolish occasiō by this place, to set store of meate vponupon the graue it selfe, where their father or freinde was buried, as though the dead had bene desirous of corporall foode.Ser. de cath. sancti Pet. Lir. super hūc locum. The which superstitious error S. Augustine earnestly improueth.
Other some, made great feastes at the daye of their freindes death. But the texte is plaine, it was the needy and good people that were at those solēne exequies, or other wise by their prayers might be profitably present in the dayes of memories holden for them: which practise was not prescribed as a newe thing to the yong Tobie, Tob. 12.but it was moued and praised vntounto him, as a holy vsage of other burialls in those dayes, and alwayes before. Bona est oratio cum ieiunio & elecmosina: Prayer is profitable, sayth the holy Raphel, when it is ioyned with fasting and almes: and therefore as the fathers in their prayers for the dead, fasted, as we hauehave proued, so nowe I doubt not but almes shall crie for mercy at Gods hande for the soule departed, vponupon whose sepulture these thinges be charitably wroght.
3 What else? if we had not doles at burialls, proued by the example of the Patriarkes, all were marred. Therefore Tobias must saye for doles. But first we hauehave shewed already, by authoritie of Hieronym, which is proofe sufficient against the Papist, that the Church receiueth not this booke of Tobias for canonicall scripture. And secondly if we shoulde receiue it, yet here is nothing that helpeth M. Allens cause but his owne simple surmise. He sayth in dede the wordes can hauehave no other sence, yet all that he sayeth is not gospell, but what if the truer texte of Tobias hath other wordes? First in the Greeke there is no mention at all of wine, as is in the Latine nor of setting breade and wine vponupon the graue of the vertuous, but the sence is this: As before he exhorted his sonne to feede the hongry with his owne breade, and to cloth the naked with his owne garments: so nowe he willeth him to spare the breade out of his owne mouth, to bury the righteous, as he him selfe had done chap. 1. (which is a cleere interpretation of this:) but to geue nothing at all to the vngodly, or to be liberall to the rightuous euen to their death and to see them buried honestly. As for the iustes and funeralls M. Allen dreameth that the poore came vntounto, to receiue penny dole or soule breade, appeareth in the first and second Chapters how solemne they were, when poore Tobie was fayne to steale the bodyes and bury them priuily by night, yet vponupon that corrupt Latine texte (as it should seeme) wherevpon M. Allen buildeth, they vsed in Affrica to make sumptuous and dronken feastes, vponupon the graues of men in the places of buriall, which they thought not onelyonly to perteine to the honor of the martyrs, but also to be some comforte to the soules of the deade. This olde superstition Augustine reproueth epist. 64. Aurelio. But it is pretily renewed in the funerall feastes of the Papistes, as also the selling of oblations for the deade which he in the same place condemneth.
4 VVe hauehave a notable example in the Actes of the Apostles, of the force of almes with prayers, which wroght life and procured mercy, euē in the next world. For the benefit of faithfull workes and holy prayers, will not be limited by the termes of this worlde: it will hauehave course doune so farre as the fellowship of this Christian societie reacheth: the deuill and all his abettours can not stoppe the rase thereof. The onelyonly shew of certaine cotes, with the requeste of the pore widowes that wore them, made to Peter the Apostle, turned Tabitha to life againe after her departure:Act. 9. those garments geuen by her when she was a lieue, by the careful trauel of her almes folkes, procured reliefe in the worlde to come. They warmed the backes of widowes in earth (sayth Emissenus) and the geuer had comforth of them being gone from the earth. It is good we shoulde all learne here,Sermo. de initio quadrage. that hauehave receiued benefite of any man in this liefe, with louelove and carefullnesse, not onelyonly in this present worlde, but most of all when our frend is departed, to represent vntounto God before his altare and holy ministers, with sorowfull weeping & hearty prayer, the memory of such thinges as we hauehave receiued by way of almes or louelove, at his hand: It shall be a soueraigne remedy for his infirmities, and the approuedst way to procure Gods mercy that can be.
The elders of the Iewes, making earnest supplication to our Sauiour, for the Centurions seruaunt lying in extremitie, vsed the memorie of that gentilmans charitable actes in their church, as the rediest waye to obteine grace and fauour at his handes. They cried out together: dignus est vt hoc illi praestes, Lucae. 7.diligit enim gentem nostram: & synagogam ipse aedificauit nobis. Lorde be gratious vntounto him, he is worthy that benefite: for he loueth our nation, and hath him selfe founded a Synagoge. And S Cyprian sayth notably, that good workes make a more effectuall intercession then good wordes, he speaketh of the same Tabitha as followeth. Circumsteterunt Petrum viduae flentes & rogantes, Ser. de eleemos.pallia, & tunicas, & omnia illa quae prius sumpserant indumenta monstrantes: nec pro defuncta suis vocibus, sed ipsius operibus deprecantes: the widowes compassed Peter round about, weeping and crauing, holding forth the clokes and cotes, and all their wiedes which they had giuen them before: not requesting for the good woman deceased so much by their wordes, as by her owne good workes. I pray God we be not ouer carelesse in offering to almighty God in these our dolefull dayes, the vnestimable benefites which we hauehave receiued of our forefathers, by the building of all our Collegies, our Oratories, Churchies, and chappelles. They were founded first, to procure Gods mercy, they were many yeares together in the mindes and memories of their beadsmen, represented before the face of God at his holy altare: they are now forgotten with most men, and offered to God with teares almost of none. VVe should be much more diligent for our frends offensies doubtlesse, then the poore women were, onelyonly for restore of there benefactors liefe againe. And the force of prayers and almes worketh rather mercy in remission of sinne, then fauour for calling to the life of this worlde any more. Therefore seeing we reade expressely, that prayers and almes hauehave bene proffitable to many, out of the state of our present life, we can not deny but the workes of the vertuous passe by Gods prouidence to the soules separated from their bodyes, and worke grace and fauour as the case and condicion of the party requireth.
4 But when shall we make an end if we aunswere such arguments as these? The widdowes entreated Peter to restore Tabitha, and shewed such garments as she made whilest she liued, therfore prayer and almes helpeth the soules in purgatory. At a word I say, here is no necessary nor probable consequence. But this is notable, that he allegeth the sorrowing of the vnbeleuing Iewes. He is worthy of this benefite, because he loueth our nation and hath builded vsus a Synagoge. Belike he would hauehave men thinke this Synagoge was some chauntry, that he builded for the benefite of the soules in purgatory.
5 The soule of Lazarus whom our Sauiour reuiued, was 4. dayes in the place and state of the next world when Martha and Mary his sisters prayers, procured his restore to the land of the liuing again. VVhichWhich wemen I am sure, were as earnest suters for the rest of his soule, as for recouery of his personage:Ioh. 11. they wished Christ had bene present in his sicknes, they were assured of his resurrection at the latter day, but being stinking ripe, they thought our maister would not presently call him vp at that turne: yet for his rest, we neede not to doubt, but they made sute with sighes & sorowfull teares, eueryevery day. VVho by custom of their countrey, as I take it, kept solemne prayers for diuers dayes togither, in certaine seasons, at the sepul…hre: as the coniecture of Maries friendes, which came to comfort her in heauines, may well declare vntounto vsus. For as she s…denly at her sisters call brake from them, they, knowing the vsage of that solemne weeping at the sepulchre of the departed, sayd one to an other, quia vadit ad monumentum vt ploret ibi. she is surely gone to his graue, there to wepe. In which weeping, kept as it were by course, order, and tyme, if our aduersaries yet deny to hauehave bene vsed any prayers or wordes of request, then let them make proofe by Gods worde, that they vsed nothing but vnprofitable lamentation: which if it be immoderate, hath especiall mistrust of the resurrection, as S. Paule declareth, but ioyned with prayers or almes, as before is proued,1. Thes. ca. 4 it hath the liuely hope, of the life of those that sleepe in peace.
And that to be the true mourning for the dead, S. Chrysostome witnesseth with me, both often else, and namely, vppon the Epistle to the Philippians thus: Defleamus istos, iuuemus eos pro viribus, procuremus illis aliquid auxilij, Homil. 3.modici quidem, attamen iuuemus eos. quomodo quaue ratione? precantes pro illis, adhortemur & alios vt orent pro eis, pauperibusque indesinenter pro illis eleemosinas demus: habet res ista non nihil consolationis: 4. Reg. 19.Audi quippe quid Deus dicat: protegam ciuitatem istam propter me, & propter Dauid seruum meum. si memoria duntaxat iusti tantum valuit, quando & opera pro tali fiunt, quid non poterunt? Let vsus mourne and weepe (sayth he) ouer the deade, and helpe them according to our abilitie: somwhat let vsus succour them though it be neuer so small, yet let vsus put to our helping handes. But howe and by what meanes? mary both our selues praying for them, and mouing others to doe the like: yea and with out ceasing let vsus bestowe almes for them, this is somewhat confortable. For see I pray you what God sayth: I will defend this city for mine owne sake and for my seruaunt Dauids sake. Truely if the onelyonly remembrance of a iust man might make so much with God, what may not charitable workes done for the same intent, obteyne at his hand? This was the mourning meete for the Christian burialls, as this noble father teacheth vsus, and this & no other, was practised in the fathers funeralls in Christes time and before. As in an other place, this same doctor earnestly correcteth the vse of vaine mourning, or outragious costly and curious couering of the body buried. Cessemus quaeso ab hac insana diligentia, sed eam morientium curam habeamus, Homil. 84. in Ca. 20. Ian.quae & nobis & illis conferat ad gloriam Dei. Largas pro his eleemosinas faciamus, mittamus eis pulcherrima viatica. Eleemosina mortuos suscitauit, quando circumsteterunt viduae ostendentes quae fecerat ipsis Dorcas. Cum ergo moriendum sit, quisque funus sibi paret, persuadeatque vt indigentibus aliquid relinquat. Nam si reges haeredes scribentes, familiaribus partem relinquunt in puerorum cautionem, cum Christum cohaeredem filijs tuis dimittis, intellige, quantam tibi, & illis concilias beneuolentiam. Haec sunt funera pulcherrima & remanentibus, & abeuntibus proficiunt: & caetera. For Gods louelove, sayth he, let vsus leaue this vndiscrete and madde curiositie: and let vsus so prouide for the departed, that we may both helpe them and our selues to the glory of God. Large almes must we geue for them, in so doing we shall sende vntounto them, as you woulde say, a kinde of necessary foode and sustenaunce for their soules. This hath raised vp the deade, when the widowes stoode round about, making shewe of the garnements that Dorcas made for them. Therefore, seeing dye we must, it were not amisse, that eueryevery man procured his owne funerall before hande, that is to say, by determination to leaue somewhat to the poore & needy. For if mighty kinges making their heires, do bequeath somewhat to their familiars, for the salfe prouiso of their successours,As prayers doe protest the resurrectiō, so vnordinate mourning shevveth the lacke of beliefe therin. thou may well vnderstande, when thou makest Christ the copartener with thy children, thou procurest thereby his mercy, both to them, and thy selfe. And these be the right obittes, these shall be commodious to the lyuing, and profitable to the deceased.
Againe in an other place, he argueth that this vnordinate mourning can not stand with the steadfast belefe of resurrection of the departed, which the prayers of Gods Church, and the rites of Christian dirigies do planely protest, and proue: these be his wordes. Cur post mortem tuorum pauperes conuocas? cur presbyteros, vt pro eis velint orare obsecras? Homil. 32. in Cap. 9. Matth.non ignoro te responsurum, vt defunctus requiem adipiscatur, & vt propitium iudicem inueniat: his ergo de rebus flendum atque vlulandum arbitraris? Non vides quàm maximè ipsi repugnas? VVhy doest thou gather the poore people, to come to thy frendes buriall?In his time the priestes vvere desired to pray for mennes soules. VVhy desirest thou the priestes to pray for their soules? Thy aunswere I am shure will be, that thou doest these thinges to prouide for his rest, and to obteine mercy and fauour at his iudgies handes. VVell then go too, what cause hast thou to mourne or bewaile his case? doest thou not perceiue that thou art contrary to thy selfe, in thy owne facte? nowe all studious men may see, what force the charity and almes of faithfull people euer had, especially towardes the deade: how litle weeping auayle…h, how vnlikely it is that the prescribed dayes of the olde funeralls in the lawe of nature or afterward, were spent in mourning, with out wordes or workes for the departed: but namely how this holy fathers sentence and minde fully setteth fourth the meaning of Tobies precept, for setting his breade and drinke vponupon the sepulchres, to be nothinge els but a calling together of the poore people, and feeding them for the benefite of the person departed: that not onelyonly they by earnest prayer, but he by charitable workes, might together obteine rest and mercy for his soule. And here, the simple sorte, and such as be ignoraunt of the force of almes, or our fathers practise, for their yeares,A great decay of vertue in our time. being brought vp in this sinnefull age when vertue is defaced, and the workes of Christianitie scarse to be seene in a whole country: and where they be much merueled at, as thinges rare, or contemned as vnprofitable, or of the wicked condemned vtterly, as superstitious & vngodly: such good young men must looke backe a great way with me, to learne their dueties of the blessed times paste, that were wholy free from the contagion of this pestilent waste in religion: euen to those dayes, that our aduersaries confesse, to hauehave bene holy and vndefiled.
5 What a shameles man is this? to say the soule of Lazarus was restored to his body, at the prayers of Martha & Mary his sisters, who as the Scripture is manifest, did not hope for any restitution before the generall resurrection. Yet we neede not doubt (sayth he) but they prayed dayly for his rest. How proueth he that? Forsoth Syr, when Mary went out sodenly to meete Christ, the Iewes sayd, vadit ad monumentum vt ploret. Alacke that M Allen could not put out that pl. and then it should be vt oret ibi. But in good sadnes, if the Iewes had thought that Mary had gone to pray at her brothers graue, they would not hauehave followed her to hinder her deuotions, but she went to wayle, and they followed to comfort her & to forbid her M. Allen sayth, that immoderate mourning hath a speciall mistrust of the resurrection, as S. Paule declareth. 1. The. 4. But ioyned with praiers and almes, it hath a liuely hope of those that sleepe in peace, if they sleepe in peace what neede hauehave they of our prayers? but will you see the ratte taken by his owne rumbling? The place of S. Paule 1. Thes. 4. is directly to reproue immoderate mourning for the dead, which is not meete for them that hauehave hope. But how hapneth it, that prayer, and almes be not there ioyned to moderate mourning? yea how hapneth it, that in so necessary a place S. Paule findeth no other comfort to moderate the mourning of the faythfull, but onelyonly the quiet rest of them that are a sleepe in the Lord, and the hope of their glorious resurrection? Surely if S. Paule had bene of Chrysostomes minde he would hauehave prescribed other maner of comforts as Chrysostome doth. But where learned Chrysostome that prayers and almes had any comfort in them for the dead? Surely he allegeth Scripture, but he applyeth it madly, and yet he often applyeth it to the same purpose, belike it was the best he had for that purpose. God sayth vntounto Ezechias, I will defend this citie for myne owne cause, and for Dauid my seruaunts sake. Alas good man what maner of reason is this? be it as he sayth, that the memory of Dauid being a righteous man, and not rather the trueth of Gods promise, made to Dauid, moued him to defend the cittie from the enemies: doth it therefore followe that prayers and almes are auailable for the deade for whome we hauehave no scripture, no commaundement, promise, nor example to pray? Who if they be of the number of Gods elect, be in so happy estate as they can not be better by our prayer, which supposeth them to be in misery. Hieronym vponupon the 37. of Esay where the same sentence is repeted, referreth these wordes Propter Dauid &c. to the memory of Dauid being a vertuous man, wherby the Iewes were admonished, that not for their merite, but for his mercy sake and for their ancestors sake, God woulde protect them, but prayer for the deade he findeth not auailable by these wordes. The other place of Chrysostome alloweth rather almes that men geue before their death, or bequeath in their test…ment because it is a worke of their own, then that almes which other men geue for them. For if Dorcas was restored to life through her almes, it was through her owne almes, that she did giuegive when she was a liue, not for any almes that other did bestow for her when she was deade. The third place of Chrysostome sheweth, how hardly the people being once n…sl…d in superstitiō, coulde be kepte in any moderation, no not in those times where there was great care, diligence and knowledge, in their pastors: but soone after as these thinges decayed in the teachers, so superstition daily increased: and where as you note in the margent, that priestes in that time were desired to praye for mens soules, I will proue afterwarde in a more proper place, that in the older time they were called together at burialls for an other purpose. But such is the nature of mens deuises, that although at the first they seeme not altogether euill, yet in processe of time, they grow to more and more inconueniens, vntill at the last they come to be altogether abominable. And therefore your collection (M. Allen) being all vponupon false groundes is nothing to be regarded of olde or younge. But Sathan your suttill maister, hath taught your rather to appeale to the iudgement of the yonger sorte, who hauehave not knowen your horrible idolatrie and mischeiuous marchandise of mens soules, then to men of any riper yeares, which remember your mysteries of iniquity, and are witnesses of your detestable doinges. And yet you do clame of the decay of vertue in our dayes, which whether it hauehave suffered a greater diminishing then in the time of your blinde and blasphemous gouernment, let them that hauehave knowen both the times, consider diligently and iudge indifferently. Finally where as you affirme, that your aduersaries cōfesse, that the dayes of Chrysostome were holy and vndefiled, and woulde make young men & boyes beleue so, you must either bring forth your authors that so confesse, or else all men both young and olde must saye you are a shamelesse lyer: we confesse that in those dayes, the onelyonly foundation Iesus Christ was taught, and the article of iustification by the onelyonly mercy of God was preached: but yet we affirme that much straw, wodde, and other impure matter, was builded vponupon the foundation, which was a preparation to the kingdome of Antichrist, which was not longe after to be reueiled. It may be a shame for you Papistes, to leaue and condemne for heresie, all that is true in those mens writings, and agreable to the scripture and to make such vaunt for a fewe superstitious ceremonies, and vnsincere opinions, which yet if eyther young or olde wil indifferently compare with your abhominations of desolation, they shall easily perceiue that they differe as much from you, as we from them.