The Elf-Fire of Purgatory, Part 5
Arguments against Purgatory, and for our Assertion out of Bellarmin, and our Aduersaries themselues.
1. Their Confession, and arguments of their owne Doctors for vsus.
Bellarmine saith,Bell. lib. 2. de indul. cap. 7. Ibidem. cap. 5. Fatemur Christum pro nobis, & pro toto mundo integre, imo plenissime deo patri satisfecisse. And againe, Christ passions (saith he) omnem culpam originalem & actualem, lethalem & venialem, & omnem poenam tam sempiternam quam temporariam expiare valent, idque totum per se, etiam si nullae admiscerentur passiones sanctorum. Whence it followes:
1 That the satisfaction of men for them selues are superfluous at least, and that he who relyes only on Christs satisfaction, relyes on that which for saluation is alwayes al-sufficient.
2 That to exact that punishment of man, which Christ hath already satisfied to his Fathers iustice, is to make God vniust, by taking two payments for one debt, as also in not accepting Christ satisfaction for as much as it is worth to the Godly, being of value to free them, as well from Purgatory (which is the lesse) as from Hell (which is the greater).
3 To say, that Christs satisfaction serues to make our satisfaction acceptable, is against common sense, as who would say that a cautioner had payed the debt, thereby to inable the principall debtor being vnresponsall, to pay it ouer againe to the Creditor: and much more absurd is it to say, that this second payment is a grace, as after a free and full pardon of all punishment whatsoeuer, it should bee a fauour done to a malefactor to bee cast so long in prison, and cruelly whipped.
Dignitas satisfactionis (saith Bellarmine) mensuram accipit a dignitate persona satisfacientis, Bell. lib. 1. de Indul. c. 2.quemadmodum grauitas offensionis a dignitate personae laesae. Now betweene finite man, who is the offendor, and the infinite God, who is offended, there is no equalitie of comparison or correspondence: therefore neither of the finite satisfaction of the one, to the infinite Iustice of the other, for which cause it behooued him to bee of an infinite nature, who was our Redeemer.
Againe, Christs satisfaction is infinite (saith Durand and Mair…es: Bell. lib. 1. de Indul. c. 4.) therefore it is altogether needlesse to ioyne to Christs satisfaction (say they) any satisfaction of the sufferings of men, which without being so ioyned to Christs, wants not their owne fruits, nor are in vaine (being indured heere) both in respect of the sufferers their owne reformation and conformitie with Christ wrought, and the confirmation of the godly, and good example to others that redounds thereby.
If by the sufferings of the godly sinnes may be expiate (saye the same men cited by Bellarmine) then it would not be absurd for them to bee called Redeemers of themselues in a part.Ibidem. But it is absurd for them to bee called redeemers of themselues, because Christ is the sole and onelyonly Redeemer of mankind, of whom saith the Apostle, Who is made vntounto vsus righteousnesse and redemption, 1 Cor. 1.30.
Therefore by the sufferings of the godly, sinnes cannot bee expiate; neither veniall nor other in regard of punishment or otherwise.
To this argument of their owne Doctors, Bellarmine no wise answeres, but blasphemously affirming, That it is no absurditie to say, that wee are our owne redeemers in a part, seeing the Councell of Trent hath decreed no lesse. Sess. 14. Cap. 8. Can. 13.
2. Scriptures adduced by Bellarmine, to proue, that the Saints presently inioy the vision of God, making directly for vsus against Purgatory.
Ecclus. 11.26. It is an easie thing to the Lord in the very day of death (without longer delay) to reward a man according to his wayes; and consequently to giuegive glory to the godly: Et illud facile est Domino, Bell. lib. 1. de Sanct. c. 3.non significat (saith Bellarmine) posset si vellet, sed reddit Deus & facile reddit vnicuique secundum opera sua in die obitus, aloquisi posset, & non redderet frustra nos hoc argumento hortaretur sapiens.
Also, he brings that saying of Paul, 2 Cor. 5.1. where the Apostle saith in the very instant and present time after the laying downe of our earthly bodies in death,Ibidem. wee hauehave an eternall habitation in the heauens; and so the soule remaines no time without a house: but as soone as it goes out of the earthly, it presently enters into the heauenly: and therefore Bellarmine sayes,Ibidem. Apostoli argumentatio optima est, nimirum ista, Si vita haec mortalis perit, habemus statim aliam longe meliorem in coelo, speaking so of all the godly indifferently.
Ibidem.To the same purpose is that which he adduceth out of the 8. verse, where the Apostle setteth downe, that this is the estate of the godly soule departing, without acknowledging any mid place or condition, that when it is absent from the body by corporall death, it is straightway present with the Lord in life euerlasting.
Bellarmine likewise in his first Booke of the Beatitude of the Saints,Bellar. lib. 1. de Sanct. c. 4. to shew the conformitie that is betweene Christ and his members in their estate immediately after death, brings in, That as he was not after death immediately blessed in his bodie (which rested three dayes in the graue till his resurrection,) but that in his soule notwithstanding he was immediately blessed, and in Paradise, (according to his owne speech to the Thiefe on the crosse, This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise.) Therefore likewise, the Saints (to be conformed with Christ, saith he) while they rest in their graues according to their bodies, yet according to their soules they are happy and blessed in Paradise. Which conformitie then wee see will clearely euince, that there is no going to Purgatorie; but that as Christs soule immediately after death went vntounto Paradise, and was blessed there; so doth the soules of the godly that are Christs members goe thither immediately after death, and are blessed likewise, (else if immediatly they went any where else, in place of a conformitie there should bee a disconformitie:) and as his bodie abode in the graue till his resurrection, notwithstanding of the present beatification of his soule after death: So that their bodies shall in like manner abide in the graue till their resurrection, notwithstanding of the present beatification of their soules likewise after death.
3. Fathers adduced by Bellarmine himselfe, to proue that the Saints presently inioye the vision of God, and making expressely for vsus against the dotage of Purgatorie.
And first Dyonisius Areopagita.
Dyonisius Areopagita saith thus, the Saints in their death knowe surely that, that wholly they shall attaine rest, and a full conformitie with Christ, when they come to the end of this present life; in cleerely beholding the way to immortalitie hard at hand, they praise the Lords bountie, and with a heauenly mirth reioyce: speaking so of all the Godly in common. Whereupon Belarmine doth will vsus to remarke this: Nota (saith he) dicere Dyonisium animas Sanctorum statim a morte hominis consequi immortalitatem: which they could not doe, nor so exceedingly reioyce in death, if … vicino, or hard at hand, they saw the tormenting fire of Purgatorie, rather then a glorious rest to abide them.
Iustin Martyr saith thus: But after the departure of the soule from the body,Bell. ibidem. Iustin. quosi. 75 statim, or instantly, there is made a distinction betweene the good and the euill: for they are carried to the places, that they are worthy of, the soules of the godly by the Angels being carried to Paradise, where the company and sight of the Angels, and Archangels is, as also the sight of Christ our Sauiour, according to these words, while we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord, but the soules of the wicked are carried into Hell.
Cyprian saith (excluding no godly soule) O what dignity and security is it in a moment to close thy eies,Bell. l▪ 1. de. Sanct. c. 5. Cyprian de exhor. Mart. cap. vlt. whereby men in the world are seene: and to open them instantly, that God and Christ may be seene. Oh what great happinesse is it to bee suddenly pulled from the earth that thou mayest presently be placed in heauen.
Augustine saith thus,Aug. med. c. 22. et l. 20. de ciuit. dei c. 15. (speaking of all the godly) O happy soule who, how soone it is loosed from the body▪ being set at liberty, presently goeth to heauen and is secure and at rest.
And againe he saith, surely the good that are faithfull since that time that they are redeemed by that price, which Christ by his blood-shedde powred forth, doe no wise know any infernall place after death.
Prosper saith thus, Prosp. l. 1. de. vita. contemp. c. 1.because according to the speech of Scripture, the whole life of man is a temptation vponupon earth, then is the temptation ended, when the fight is ended; and then is the fight ended, when to the same secure victory succeeds, at the very end of this life: that so all the Souldiers of Christ, who euen to the end of this their present life, by diuine aide hauehave valiantly resisted their enemies: hauing ended their painefull pilgrimage, may presently thenceforth raigne happy in their natiue Countrey.
Anselmus thus speaketh, the Preachers of the Church,Ansel. in. 2. ad. Cor. after that they hauehave departed out of the body; they are no wise delayed of the present possession of their Heauenly Countrey: but instantly as they depart from the flesh, whereunto the soule was formerly tyed, so soone are they made to rest in the heauenly seate.
4. Reasons adduced by Bellarmine, to proue the Saints present fruition of ioy, and making directly for vsus, against Purgatorie.
God (saith he) is no readier, or more inclinde to punish,Bell. l. 1. de. Sanct. c. 6. then he is to reward: wherefore it followes, that if the wicked be presently cast in torment, as we see the example of the rich Glutton teaches vsus, that by a like equitie that the godly instantly after death, likewise receiue their owne reward.
As Basilius notes (saith he) before Christs comming, the death of the Godly was lamented,Bell. Ibidem. but since that time, the same is celebrated with mirth, and why so? but because to die then it was a misery▪ but now death is the beginning of happinesse, which surely it could not be (say we) if the soule went to a tormenting fire in Purgatorie, but a greater miserie, then when the soule went before (as they say) to a painelesse Limbo.
Leuit. 19.13. Thou shalt not retaine the wages of the hireling beside thee all night till the morning therefore lest God should seeme lesse iust or pitifull at the very end of the day of his life,Bell ibidem. much more wil he giuegive glory to the godly, according to that Parable, Mat. 20. and consequently (say we) he will not delay them of that reward, not only one night, but many hundreds of yeares (as the Papists hold) tormenting their soules in Purgatorie.