Answer to a Jesuit in Ireland, Treatise · Section 5
OF PVRGATORIE.
FOr extinguishing the imaginarie flames of Popish Purgatory, wee need not goe farre to fetch water: seeing the whole current of Gods word runneth mainly upon this; that a1. Ioh. 1.7.the blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all sinne; that all Gods children b1. Cor· 15.1…. 1. Thess. 4.16.dye in Christ, and that such as cRevel. 14 13.dye in him, doe rest from their labours; that, as they be d2. Cor. 5.6, 8.absent from the Lord while they are in the bodie, so when they be absent from the bodie they are present with the Lord; and in a word, that they eIoh. 5.24.come not into judgement, but passe from death unto life. And if wee need the assistance of the ancient Fathers in this businesse: behold they be here readie, with full buckets in their hands.
Tertullian, to begin withall, fC…ristum laedimus, cùm evocatos quosque ab illo, quasi miserandos non aequanimiter accipimus. Cupio, … jam, & … cum Christo quantò melius ostendit votum Christianorū. Ergo votum si alios consequutos impatienter dolemus, ipsi consequi no…umus. …er…ull. lib. …e Patient. cap. 9.counteth it iniurious unto Christ, to hold that such as be called from hence by him are in a state that should be pittied. whereas they have obtayned their desire of being with Christ: according to that of the Apostle, Philip. 1.23. I desire to depart, and to be with Chrest. What pitie was it, that the poore soules in Purgatorie should finde no … in those dayes to informe men better of their ruefull condition; nor no Secretarie to draw up such another supplication for them as this, which of late years Sir Thomas Moore presented in their name, gThe Supplication o… soules, made by Sir Tho Moore.To all good Christen people. In most piteous wise continually calleth and cryeth upon your devoute charitie and most tender pitie, for helpe, comfort and reliefe, your late acquaintance, kindred, spouses, companions, playfellowes, and friends, and now your humble and unacquainted and halfe forgotten suppliants, poore prisoners of God, the sely soules in Purgatorie, here abiding and enduring the grievous paynes and hote clensing fire, &c. If S. Cyprian had understood but halfe thus much: doubtlesse he would have strucken out the best part of that famous treatise which hee wrote of Mortalitie (to comfort men against death, in the time of a great plague) especially such passages as these are, which by no meanes can be reconciled with Purgatorie.
hEjus est mortem timere, qui ad Christum n…lit ire: ejus est ad Christū nolle ire, qui se non credat cum Chr…sto incipere regnare. Scriptum est enim, justū fide vivere. Si justus es, & fide vivis, si vere in Deum credis: cur non cum Christo futurus, & de Domini pollic tatione securus, quòd ad Christum voceris, amplecteris, & quòd Diabolo careas, grat…la…is? Cyprian, de Mortalit. sect. 2. edit. Goulart.It is for him to feare death, that is not willing to goe unto Christ: it is for him to bee unwilling to goe unto Christ, who doth not beleeve that hee beginneth to raigne with Christ. For it is written, that the just doth live by faith. If thou be just and livest by faith, if thou dost truly beleeve in God; why, being to be with Christ, and being secure of the Lords promise, doest not thou embrace the message whereby thou art called unto Christ, and rejoycest that thou shalt be ridd of the Divell? Simeon said; Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seene thy salvation. iProbans scilicèt, atque cō testans …unc esse servis Dei pacem, tunc liberam tunc tranquillam quietē; quādo de istis mundi turbinibus▪ … tracti, sedi… & securitatis aeternae portum petimus, quando expunctâ hâc morte ad immortalitatē venimus. Ibid.proving thereby, and witnessing that the servants of God then have peace, then injoy free and quiet rest; when being drawen from these stormes of the world, vvee arrive at the haven of our everlasting habitation and securitie, vvhen this death being ended wee enter into immortalitie. kAd refrigerium justi vocantur, ad suplicium rapiuntur injusti: datur velociùs tutela fidentibus, perfidis poena. Ibid. sect. 11.The righteous are called to a refreshing, the unrighteous are haled to torment: safety is quickly granted to the faithfull, and punishment to the unfaithfull. lNec accipiendas esse hîc atras vestes, quando illi ibi indumenta alba jam sumpserint. Ibid sect. 14.Wee are not to put on black mourning garments here, when our friends there have put on white. mNon est exitus iste, sed transitus, &, temporali itinere decurso, ad aeterna transgressus. Ibid. sect. 15.This is not a going out, but a passage, and, this temporall journey being finished, a going over to eternitie. nAmplectamur diem, qui assignat singulos domicilio suo; qui nos istinc ereptos, & laqueis secularibus exsolutos paradiso restituit & regno coelesti. Ibid. sect. 18.Let us therefore embrace the day that bringeth every one to his owne house; which having taken us away from hence, and loosed us from the snares of this world, returneth us to Paradise and to the kingdome of heaven.
The same holy Father in his Apologie which hee wrote for Christians unto Demetrian the proconsul of Africk, affirmeth in like maner; that oDonec aevi temporalis fine completo, ad aeternae vel mortis vel immortalitatis hospitia dividamur. Id. ad Demetrian. sect. 16.the end of this temporall life being accomplished, we are divided into the habitations of everlasting eyther death or immortalitie. pQuando istinc excessum fuerit, nullus jam poenitentiae locus est, nul…us satisfactionis effectus: hîc vita aut amittitur, aut tenetur Id. ibid. sect. 22.When we are once departed from hence, there is now no farther place for repentance, neyther any effect of satisfaction. here life is eyther lost or obtayned. But if qTu sub ipso licet exitu & vitae temporalis occasu, pro delictis roges: & Deum, qui unus & verus est, confessione & fidè agnitionis ejus implores venia confitenti datur, & tredenti indulgentia salutaris de divinâ pictate conceditur; & ad immortalitatem sub ipsâ morte transitur. Hanc gratiam Christus impertit, hoc munus miscricordiae sua… tribuit; subigendo mortem tropha…o crucis, redimēdo credentē pretio sanguinis sui, reconciliādo hominē Deo Patri, vivificādo mortalē regeneratione coelesti. Ib.thou (saith he) even at the very end and setting of thy temporall life, dost pray for thy sinnes, and call upon the onelyonly true God with confession and faith: pardon is given to thee confessing, and saving forgivenesse is granted by the divine piety to thee beleeving; and at thy very death thou hast a passage unto immortalitie. This grace doth Christ impart, this gift of his mercy doth he bestow; by subduing death with the triumph of his crosse, by redeeming the beleever with the price of his blood, by reconciling man unto God the Father, by quickening him that is mortall with heavenly regeneration.
Where Salomon sayeth, Ecclesiast. 12.5. that man goeth to his everlasting house, and the mourners goe about in the street: S. Gregory of Neocaesarea maketh this paraphrase upon those words; rforeign. Greg. Neocaesar. metaphras. in Ecclesiast.The good man shall goe rejoycing unto his everlasting house, but the wicked shall fill all with lamentations. Therefore did the Fathers teach, that men shouldsforeign. Anton. Meliss. part. 1. serm. 58. &c. rejoyce at their death: and the ancient Christians framed their practise accordingly; tNos non nativitatis diem celebramus; cùm sit dolorum atque tentationum introitus: sed mortis diem celebramus; utpote omnium dolorum depositionem, atque omnium tentationum effugationem. Author …ib. 3. in Iob, inter opera Origenis. Vide S. Basil. homil. in Psalm. 115. pag. 318. edit. Graecolat.not celebrating the day of their nativitie, which they accounted to be the entry of sorrowes and temptations, but celebrating the day of death, as being the putting away of all sorrowes, and the escaping of all temptations. And so being filled with uforeign & paulo pòst. foreign. Dionys. Ecclesiast. hierarch. cap. 7.a divine rejoycing they came to the extremitie of death as vntounto the end of their holy combates: xforeign. Ibid.where they did more clearely behold the way that ledd unto their immortalitie, as being now made neerer; and did therefore prayse the gifts of God, and were replenished with divine joy, as now not fearing any change to worse, but knowing well that the good things which they possessed shall be firmely and everlastingly enjoyed by them.
The author of the Questions and Answeres attributed to Iustin Martyr, writeth thus of this matter. yforeign. Iustin. resp. ad Orthodox. quaest. 7 5.After the departure of the soule out of the body, there is presently made a distinction betwixt the just and the unjust. For they are brought by the Angels to places fit for them: the soules of the righteous to Paradise, vvhere they have the commerce and sight of Angels and Archangels, &c. the soules of the unjust to the places in hell. That zforeign. Athanas. de Virginitate.is not death (saith Athanasius) that befalleth the righteous, but a translation: for they are translated out of this world into everlasting rest: and as a man would goe out of a prison, so doe the Saints goe out of this troublesome life unto those good things that are prepared for them. S. Hilary out of that which is related in the Gospell of the rich man and Lazarus observeth; that aNihil illic dilationis aut morae est. Iudicii enim dies, vel beatitudinis retributio est aeterna vel poenae: tempus veró mortis habet unumquenque suis legibus, dum ad judicium unumquenque aut Abraham reservat aut poena. Hilar. in Psalm. 2.as soone as this life is ended, everie one without delay is sent over either to Abrahams bosome, or to the place of torment, and in that state reserved untill the day of judgement. S. Ambrose in his booke of the good of Death, teacheth us, that death bEt quia portus quidam est eorū qui magno vitae istius jactati salo, sidae quietis stationem requirunt: & quia deteriorem statum non efficit, sed qualem in singulis invenerit, talem judicio futuro reservat, & quiete ipsá fovet, &c. Ambros. de bono mortis, cap. 4.is a certaine haven to them, who being tossed in the great Sea of this life, desire a rode of safe quietnesse: that it maketh not a mans state worse, but such as in findeth in every one, such it reserveth unto the future judgement, and refresheth with rest. that thereby cTransitur autem á corruptione ad incorruptionem, á mortalitate ad immortalitatem, á perturbatione ad tranquillitatē. Ibid.a passage is made from corruption to incorruption, from mortalitie to immortalitie, from trouble to tranquillity. Therefore he saith, that where dInsipientes mortem quasi summum malorum reformidant: sapientes quasi requiem post labores & finem malorum expetunt. Ibid. cap. 8.fooles doe feare death as the chiefe of evills, wise men do desire it, as a rest after labours and an end of their evills. and upon these grounds exhorteth us, that eHis igitur freti, intrepidé pergamus ad redemptorem nostrum Iesum, intrepidé ad Patriarcharum Concilium, intrepidé ad patrem nostrum Abraham, cùm dies advenerit, proficiscamur: intrepidé pergamus ad illum sanctorum caetum, justorumque conventum. Ibimus enim ad patres nostros, ibimus ad illos nostrae fidei praeceptores: ut etiamsi opera desint, fides opituletur, defendat haereditas. Ibid. cap. 12.when that day commeth, wee should goe without feare to Iesus our redeemer, without feare to the Councell of the Patriarches, without feare to Abraham our father; that without feare wee should addresse our selves unto that assembly of Saints, and congregation of the righteous. forasmuch as we shall goe to our fathers, we shall goe to those schoolemasters of our faith; that albeit our workes fayle us, yet faith may succour us, and our title of inheritance defend us.
Macarius, writing of the double state of those that depart out of this life, affirmeth that when the soule goeth out of the bodie; if it be guiltie of sinne, the Divell carrieth it away with him unto his place: but when the holy servants of God fforeign. Macar. Aegypt. homil. 22.remove out of their bodie, the quyers of Angells receive their soules unto their owne side, unto the pure world, and so bring them unto the Lord. and in another place, moving the question concerning such as depart out of this world sustayning two persons in their soule, to wit, of sinne and of grace; whither they shall go that are thus held by two parts? hee maketh answere, that thither they shall goe, where they have their minde and affection setled. For gforeign. Id. homil. 26.the Lord (saith hee) beholding thy minde, that thou fightest, and lovest him with thy whole soule, separateth death from thy soule in one houre, (for this is not hard for him to doe) and taketh thee into his owne bosome, and unto light. For he plucketh thee away in the minute of an houre from the mouth of darkenesse, and presently translateth thee into his owne kingdome. For God can easily doe all these things in the minute of an houre; this provided only, that thou bearest love unto him. then which, what can be more direct against the dreame of Popish Purgatorie? hforeign. Basil Pr…m. in Regulas fusiùs disputat. foreign. Greg. Nazianzen. orat. 9 ad Iulianum foreign.This present world is the time of repentance, the other of retribution: this of working, that of rewarding: this of patient suffering, that of receiving comfort: saith S. Basil.
Gregory Nazianzen, in his funerall orations, hath manie sayings to the same purpose: being so farre from thinking of anie Purgatorie paynes prepared for men in the other world, that hee plainely denieth, that iforeign. Nazianz. orat. 42 in Pascha.after the night of this present life there is any purging to be expected. and therefore hee telleth us, kforeign. Id. orat. 15. in plagam grandinis. inde que in locis communib. Maximi, serm. 45. & Antonij, part. 2. serm. 94.that it is better to be corrected and purged now, than to be sent unto the torment there, where the time of punishing is, and not of purging. S. Hierome, comforteth Paula for the death of her daughter Blaesilla, in this mater. lLugeatur mortuus; sed ille, quem gelienna suscipit, quem tartarus devorat, in cujus poenam aeternus ignis aestuat. Nos, quorum exitum Angelorum turba comitatur, quibus obviam Christus occurrit, gravemur magis, si diutiùs in tabernaculo isto mortis habitemus. Quia quamdiu hîc moramur, peregrinamur á Domino. Hieronym. epist. 25.Let the dead be lamented; but such a one, vvhom Gehenna doth receive, whom Hell doth devoure, for whose paine the everlasting fire doth burne. Let us, whose departure a troupe of Angells doth accompanie, vvhom Christ commeth forth to meete, be more grieved, if we doe longer dwell in this tabernacle of death. Because, as long as wee remaine here, vvee are pilgrims from God.
By all that hath beene said, the indifferent Reader may easily discerne, what may be thought of the craking Cardinall, who would face us downe, that mOmnes veteres Graeci & Latini ab ipso tempore Apostolorum constanter docuerunt Purgatorium esse. Bellarmin. de Purgator. lib. 1. c. 15.all the ancients, both Greek and Latine, from the very time of the Apostles, did constantly teach that there was a Purgatory. whereas his owne partners could tell him in his eare, that nAlphons. de Castro advers. haeres. lib. 8. tit. Indulgentia. Io. Roffens. Assert. Lutheran. Confutat. artic. 18. Polydor. Vergil. de invent. …er. lib. 8. cap. 1.in the ancient writers there is almost no mention of Purgatory, especially in the Greek writers; and therefore that by the Grecians it is not beleeved untill this day. He alledgeth indeed a number of authorities to bleare m…ns eyes withall: which being narrowly looked into, will be found eyther to be counterfeit stuffe, or to make nothing at all to the purpose; as belonging eyther to the point of praying for the dead onelyonly, (which in those ancient times had no relation to Purgatory; as in the handling of the next article wee shall see) or unto the fire of affliction in this life, or to the fire that shall burne the world at the last day, or to the fire prepared for the Divell and his Angells, or to some other fire then that which hee intended to kindle thereby. This benefite onelyonly have wee here gotten by his labours: that hee hath saved us the paynes of seeking farre for the forge, from whence the first sparkles of that purging fire of his brake forth. For the ancientest memoriall that he bringeth thereof, (the places which he hath abused out of the Canonical and Apocryphal scriptures onelyonly excepted) oBellarmin. de Purgator. lib. 1. cap. 11.is out of Plato in his Gorgias and Phaedo, Cicero in the end of his fiction of the dreame of Scipio, and Virgil in the sixth booke of his Aeneids: and next after the Apostles times, pId. ibid. cap. 7. & 10.out of Tertullian in the seventeenth chapter of his booke de Animâ, and Origen in diverse places. OnelyOnly hee must give us leave to put him in minde, with what spirit Tertullian was ledd, when hee wrote that book de Animâ: and with what authoritie hee strengtheneth that conceipt of mens paying in hell for their small faults before the resurrection, namely of qHoc etiam Paracletus frequentissimé commendavit; si quis sermones ejus ex agnitione promissorum charismatum admiserit. Tertullian. de Animâ, cap. ult.the Paraclete; by whom if hee meane Montanus the arch- hereticke (as there is small cause to doubt that he doth) we need not much envy the Cardinal, for raising up so worshipfull a patron of his Purgatory.
But if Montanus come short in his testimonie, Origen I am sure payes it home with full measure, not pressed down only and shaken together, but also running over. For he was one of those (as the rNon defuerunt, qui adeò Purgatorium probârint, ut nullas poenas nisi purgatorias post hanc vitam agnoverint. Ita Origenes sensit. Bellarmin. de Purgator. lib. 1. cap 2.Cardinall knoweth full well) who approved of Purgatory so much, that he acknowledged no other paines after this life but purgatory penalties onelyonly: and therefore in his iudgement Hell and Purgatorie being the selfe same thing, such as blindely follow the Cardinall may do well to look, that they stumble not upon Hell, while they seeke for Purgatorie. The Grecians professe, sforeign. Gra…ci. in lib. de Purgatorio igne, á Bon. Vulcanio edit.that they are afrayde to tell their people of anie temporary fire after this life; lest it should breed in them a spice of Origens disease, and put out of their memorie the thought of eternall punishment, and by this meanes occasioning them to be more carelesse of their conversation, make them indeed fit fuell for those everlasting flames. Which feare of theirs, wee may perceive not to have beene altogether causelesse; when the Purgatorie of Origen resembleth the Purgatorie of the Pope so neerely, that the wisest of his Cardinalls is so readie to mistake the one for the other. And, to speake the truth, the one is but an unhappie sprigge cut off from the rotten trunck of the other: which sundry men long since endevoured to graffe upon other stockes, but could not bring unto anie great perfection; untill the Popes followers tryed their skill upon it, with that successe which now we behold. Some of the ancient that put their hand to this worke, extended the benefite of this fiery purge unto all men in generall: others thought fit to restrain it unto such as some way or other bare the name of Christians, others to such Christians onelyonly as had one time or other made profession of the Catholick faith, and others to such alone as did continue in that profession untill their dying day.
Against all these S. Augustine doth learnedly dispute; proving that wicked men, of what profession soever, shall be punished with everlasting perdition. And whereas the defenders of the last opinion did ground themselves upon that place in the third chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, which the Pope also doth make the principall foundation of his Purgatory (although it be a tVniuscujusque opus quale sit, ignis probabit. 1. Cor. 3.13.probatory, and not a purgatory fire that the Apostle there treateth of) S. Augustine maketh answere, that uAugustin. de fide & operib. cap. 15.this sentence of the Apostle is verie obscure, & to be reckoned among those things which S. Peter saith are hard to be understood in his writings, which men ought not to pervert unto their owne destruction: and freely xId ibid. cap. 16confesseth that in this matter he would rather heare more intelligent and more learned men then himselfe. Yet this he delivereth for his opinion: that by vvood, hay, and stubble is understood that over-great love which the faithfull beare to the things of this life; and by fire, that temporall tribulation which causeth griefe unto them by the losse of those things upon which they had too much placed their affections. But ySive ergo in hâc vitâ tantùm homines ista patiuntur, sive etiam post hanc vitam talia quaedam iudicia subsequuntur; non abhorret, quā tum arbitror, á ratione veritatis iste intellectus huius sententiae. Id. ibid. c. 16.whether in this life onelyonly (saith he) men suffer such things, or whether some such judgements also doe follow after this life; the meaning which I have given of this sentence, as I suppose, abhorreth not from the truth. And againe. zSive ibi tantùm, sive hîc & ibi, sive ideò hîc ut non ibi, secularia (quā vis á damnatione venialia) concremantem ignem transitoriae tribulationis inveniāt; non redarguo, quia forsitan verum est. Id. lib. 21 de Civit. Dei, cap. 26.Whether they finde the fire of transitorie tribulation (burning those secular affections, which are pardoned from damnation) in the other world onelyonly, or vvhether here and there, or vvhether therefore here that they may not finde them there; I gainsay it not, because peradventure it is true. And in another place. aTale aliquid etiā post hanc vitam fieri incredibile non est, & utrum ita sit quaeri potest, & aut inveniri aut latere; nonnullos fideles per ignem quēdam purgatoriū, quanto magis minúsve bona pereuntia dilexerunt, tanto tardiùs citiusque salvari. Id. in Euchirid. ad Laurent. cap. 69.That some such thing should be after this life, it is not incredible, and whether it be so it may be inquired, and either be found or remaine hidden; that some of the faithfull by a certaine purgatory fire, by how much more or lesse they have loved these perishing goods, are so much the more slowly or sooner saved. Wherein the learned Father dealeth no otherwise, then when in disputing against the same men, he is content, if they would acknowledge that the wrath of God did remaine everlastingly upon the damned, to give them leave to thinke that their paines might some way or other be lightned or mitigated. Which yet notwithstanding (saith bQuod quidem non ideo confirmo, quoniam non refello. Id. de Civit. Dei, lib. 21. cap. 24.he) I doe not therefore affirme, because I oppose it not.
What the Doctors of the next succeeding ages taught herein, may appeare by the writings of S. Cyrill, Gennadius, Olympiodorus, and o…hers. S. Cyrill from those last words of our Saviour upon the Crosse, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit, cQuod nobis magnae spei fundamentum a…que originē praebet. Credere namque deb…mus, quū á corporibus sanctorum animae abierint, tanquam in manus charissimi patris, bonitati divinae cōmendari; nec, ut quidam infidelium crediderunt, in terris conversari, quousque sepulturae honoribus affectae sint; nec, ut peccatorum animae, ad immensi cruciatus locum, id est ad Inferos, deferri: itinere hoc nobis á Christo primùm praeparato, sed in manus potiùs patris evolare. Tradidit enim animam suam manibus genitoris, ut ab illâ & per illam facto initio, certam huius rei spem habeamus: firmiter credentes, in manibus Dei nos post morlem futuros, vitamque multo meliorem ac perpetuò cum Christo victuros. ideò enim Pau…us desideravit resolvi, & esse cum Christo. Cyrill. Alexandr. in Iohann. lib. 12. cap. 36.delivereth this as the certaine ground and foundation of our hope. Wee ought to beleeve that the soules of the Saints, when they are departed out of their bodies, are commended unto Gods goodnesse, as unto the hands of a most deare Father; and doe not remaine in the earth (as some of the unbeleevers have imagined) untill they have had the honour of buriall; neyther are carried, as the soules of the wicked be, unto a place of unmeasurable torment, that is, unto Hell: but rather flye to the hands of the Father, this way being first prepared for us by Christ. For hee delivered up his soule into the hands of his Father, that from it, and by it a beginning being made, we might have certaine hope of this thing: firmely beleeving, that after death we shall be in the hands of God, and shall live a farre better life for ever with Christ. for therefore Paul desired to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. Gennadius, in a booke wherein hee purposely taketh upon him to reckon up the particular points of doctrine received by the Church in his time, when he commeth to treat of the state of soules separated from the body, maketh no mention at all of Purgatorie; but layeth down this for one of his positions. dPost ascensionem Domini ad coelos, omnium sanctorū animae cum Christo sunt, & exeuntes de corpore ad Christum vadunt, expectantes resurrectionem corporis sui, ut ad integram & perpetuam beatitudinem cum ipso pariter immutentur: sicut & peccatorum animae in inferno sub timore positae, expectant resurrectionem sui corporis, ut cum ipso ad poenam detrudantur aeternam. Gennad. de Ecclesiastic. dogmatib. cap. 79.After the ascension of our Lord into heaven, the soules of all the Saints are with Christ, and departing out of the bodie goe unto Christ, expecting the resurrection of their bodie, that together with it they may be changed unto perfect and perpetuall blessednesse: as the soules of the sinners also being placed in Hell under feare, expect the resurrection of their body, that with it they may be thrust unto everlasting paine. In like maner Olympiodorus, expounding that place of Ecclesiastes,eEccles. 11.3. If the tree fall toward the South or toward the North, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be; maketh this inference thereupon. fIn quocunque igitur loco seu illustri seu tenebroso, hoc est, sive in turpi scelerum statione sive in honestâ vi…tutum, deprehendatur homo cùm moritur, in eo gradu atque ordine permanet in aeternum. Nam vel requiescit in lumine felicitatis aeternae cum justis & Christo Domino, vel in tenebris cruciatur cum iniquis & principe mundi huius Diabolo. Olympiodor. in Ecclesiast. cap. 11.In whatsoever place therefore, either lightsome or darke, that is, either in the foule station of sinnes or in the honest of vertues, a man is taken when he dyeth, in that degree and order he remaineth for ever. For either hee resteth in the light of eternall felicitie with the just and with Christ our Lord, or is tormented in darkenesse with the wicked and with the Divell the prince of this world.
The first whom we finde directly to have held, that gSed tamen de quibusdam levibus culpis esse ante judiciū purgatorius ignis credendus …st. Gregor. Dialog. l…b. 4. cap. 39.for certaine light faults there is a purgatory fire provided before the day of judgement; was Gregory the first, about the end of the sixth age after the birth of our Saviour Christ. It was his imagination, that the end of the world was then at hand, and that hQuemadmodū cùm nox finiri & dies incipit oriri, ante Solis o…tū simul aliquo modo tenebrae cum luce commixtae sunt, quousque discedentes noct…s reliquiae in luce diei subsequentis perfectè vertantur: ita huius mundi finis jam cum futuri saeculi ex ordio permiscetur, atque ipsae reliquiarum tenebrae quâdam iam rerum spiritalium permixtione translucent. Id. ibid. cap. 41.as when the night beginneth to be ended and the day to spring, before the rising of the Sunne the darkenesse is in some sort mingled together with the light, untill the remaines of the departing night be turned into the light of the following day; so the end of this world was then intermingled with the beginning of the world to come, and the very darkenes of the remaines thereof made transparent by a certaine mixture of spirituall things. And this he assigneth for the reason, iQuid hoc est quaeso te, quòd in his extremis temporibus tam multa de animabus clarescunt, quae antè latuerunt; ita ut apertis revelationibus atque ostensionibus venturū saeculū inferre se nobis, atque aperire videatur. Ibid. cap. 40.why in those last times so many things were made cleare touching the soules, which before lay hid; so that by open revelations and apparitions the world to come might seeme to bring in and open it selfe unto them. But as we see that he was plainly deceived in the one of his conceits; so have we just cause to call into question the veritie of the other. the Scripture especially having informed us, that a people for enquiry of matters should not have recourse to kEsai. 8.19, 20.the dead, but to their God, to the Law and to the Testimony: it being not Gods manner, to send men lLuc. 16.29, 30.from the dead to instruct the living, but to remit them unto Moses and the Prophets, that they may heare them. And the reason is well worth the observation which the author of the Questions to Antiochus rendreth, why God would not permit the soule of any of those that departed from hence to returne backe unto us againe, and to declare the state of things in Hell unto us: least mforeign. Ad Antioch. quaest. 35. inter opera Athanasij.much errour might arise from thence unto us in this life. For many of the Divels (saith hee) might transforme themselves into the shapes of those men that were deceased, and say that they vvere risen from the dead; and so might spred many false matters & doctrines of the things there, unto our seduction and destruction.
Neither is it to be passed over, that in those apparitions and revelations, related by Gregory, there is no mention made of any common lodge in Hell appointed for purging of the dead (which is that which the Church of Rome now striveth for) but of certaine soules only that for their punishment were confined to nGregor. Dialog. lib. 4. cap. 40. & 55.bathes and other such places here upon earth; which our Romanists may beleeve if they list, but must seeke for the Purgatorie they looke for somewhere else. And yet may they save themselves that labour, if they will be advised by the Bishops assembled in the Councell of Aquisgran (240. yeares after these visions were published by Gregory) who will resolve them out of the word of God, how sinnes are punished in the world to come. oTribus itaque modîs peccata mortaliū vindicantur: duobus in hâc vitâ, tertio in futurâ vitâ. De duobus ita Apostolus inquit: Si nosmetipsos judicaverimus, á Domino non judicabimur. Haec est vindicta, quam inspirante Deo omnis peccator, pro suis admissis poenitendo, in seipso vindicat. Quod autem prosecutus idem Apostolus infert; Cùm judicamur autem, á Domino corripimur, ut non cum mundo damnemur: haec est vindicta quam omnipotens Deus misericorditer peccatori irrogat, iuxta illud: Deus quem amat, corripit, flagellat autem omnem filiū quem recipit. Tertia autem extat valde pertimescenda atque terribilis, quae non in hoc sed in futuro, iustissimo Dei iudicio, fiet saeculo, quando justus iudex dicturus est: Discedite á me maledicti in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo & angelis eius. Capitul. Aquisgran. Concil. ad Pipinum miss. lib. 1. cap. 1.The sinnes of men (say they) are punished three maner of wayes: two in this life, and the third in the life to come. Of those two the Apostle saith: If we would judge our selves, we should not be judged of the Lord. This is the punishment, wherewith (by the inspiration of God) every sinner, by repenting for his offences, taketh revenge upon himselfe. But where the Apostle consequently adjoyneth; When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with this world: this is the punishment, which almightie God doth mercifully inflict upon a sinner, according to that saying; Whom God loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourgeth everie sonne that hee receiveth. But the third is very fearefull and terrible, which by the most just judgement of God shall be executed, not in this world but in that which is to come, vvhen the just Iudge shall say: Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the Divell and his angells. Adde hereunto the saying of the author of the booke De vanitate saeculi (wrongly ascribed to S. Augustine:) pScitote, quòd cùm anima á corpore evellitur, statim aut in paradiso pro me…itis bonis collocatur, aut certè pro peccatis in infer…i tartara praecipitatur. Lib. de vanit. saeculi, cap. 1. tomo 9. Operum Augustini.Know, that when the soule is separated from the body, presently it is eyther placed in Paradise for his good merites, or cast headlong into the bottom of hell for his sinnes. and, that in the dayes of Otto Frisingensis himselfe (who wrote in the year of our Lord MCXLVI.) the doctrine of Purgatory was esteemed onelyonly a private assertion held by some, and not an article of faith generally received by the whole Church. (for why should hee else write of it in this maner? qEsse apud inferos locum purgatorium, in quo salvandi vel tenebris tantùm afficiantur, vel expiationis igne decoquantur, QVIDAM asserunt. Otto Frising lib. 8. Chron. cap. 26.That there is in Hell a place of Purgatory, wherein such as are to be saved are either only troubled with darkenesse, or decocted with the fire of expiation, SOM… doe affirme.) and lastly, that the Purgatorie wherewith the Romish clergie doth now delude the world, is a new devise, never heard of in the Church of God, for the space of a thousand yeares after the birth of our Saviour Christ.
For the Gregorian Purgatorie, which reached no further then to the expiation of rSed tamen hoc de parvis minimisque peccatis fieri posse credendū est; sicut est assiduus otiosus sermo, immoderatus risus, &c. Gregor. Dialog. lib. 4. cap. 39.small and very light faults, would not serve these mens turne; who verie providently considered, that little use could be made of that fire, if it had no other fuell but this to maintaine it. For such peccadilloes as these (they say) may be taken away in this life sSext. Proaem. in Glos…â. verb. Benedictionem. Francisc á Victoriâ in Summâ sacramentor. Eccles. num. 110. Iacob. de Graffijs, decis. cas. conscient. part. 1. lib. 1. cap. 6. num. 10.by knocking the breast, by receiving the Bishops blessing, by being sprinkled with holy water, and by such other easie remedies; that if this were all the matter to be cared for, men needed not greatly to stand in feare of Purgatorie. Yea admit they should be so extremely negligent in their life time, that they forgat to use anie of these helpes: they might for all this at the time of their death be more afraid then hurt; yea this tSed plerumque de culp…s minimis ipse solus pavor egredientes i… storu… animas purgat. Gregor. Dialog. lib. 4. cap 46.feare alone (if there were nothing else) might prove a meanes to purge their soules, at the very parting, from th…se faults of the lightest kinde; if Gregory may be credited Nay, which is more, diverse of their owne uDele… gra…ia sinalis peccatū veni…le in ipsâ dissolutione corporis & animae, &c. Hoc ab antiquis dictum est. sed nunc communiter tenetur, quòd peccatū veniale cùm hinc deferatur á multis, etiam quantum ad culpam, in Pu…gatorio purgatur. Albert Magn. in Compend. Theologicae veritat. lib. 3. c. 11. Vid. Alexand. Halen… Summ. part. 4. quaest. 15. memb…. …. artic. 3. Du…and. lib 4. dist. 46. quaest. 1. &c.elder Divines (to whom wee may adjoyne Cardinall xCaietan. Opusc. tom 1. tract. 23. de Purgator. quaest. 1.Caietan also in these later dayes) have taught; that all the remaines of sinne in Gods children are quite abolished by finall grace, at the verie instant of their dissolution; so that the staine of the least sinne is not left behinde to be carried unto the other world.
Now Purgatory (as Bellarmine describeth it) is a yLocus quidā, in quo tanquā in carcere post hanc vitā purgātur animae, quae in hâc non plené purgatae fuerunt; ut nimirùm sic purgatae in coelum ingredi valeant, quò nihil intrabit coinquinatum. De hoc est tota controversia. Bellarmin de Purgator. lib. 1. cap. 1.certaine place, in which as in a prison those soules are …urged after this life, which were not fully purged in this life; that being so purged they may be able to enter in to heaven, wherein to no uncleane thing can enter. And of this, saith he, is all the controversie. If that be so: their own Doctors, you see, will quickly bring this controversie unto an end. For if the soules be fully purged here from all spot of sinne: what need have they to be sent unto anie other Purgatorie after this life? Yes, say they, although the fault be quite remitted, and the soule clearely freed from the pollution thereof: yet may there remaine a temporall punishment due for the verie mortall sinnes that have beene committed; which (if reliefe doe not otherwise come, by the helpe of such as are alive) must be soundly layd on in Purgatory. But why in Purgatory, say we; seeing here there is no more purging worke left? for the fault and the blot being taken away already; what remaineth yet to be purged? The punishment onelyonly they say is left behinde: and punishment, I hope, they will not hold to be the thing that is purged away by punishment. Againe we desire them to tell us, what Father or ancient Doctor did ever teach this strange divinity? that a man being cleerly purged from the blott of his sinne, and fully acquitted here from the fault thereof; should yet in the other world be punished for it with such grievous torments as the tongue of man is not able to expresse. And yet, as new and as absurd a doctrine as it is, the Pope and his adherents have builded thereupon both their guilefull Purgatory (with which it suteth as evill-favouredly as may be) and their gainefull Indulgences; which, by their own doctrine, zId. de Indulgent. lib. 1. cap. 7. propos. 1.free not a man from the guilt of anie fault, either mortall or veniall, but onelyonly from the guilt of the temporall punishment, which remayneth after the fault hath beene forgiven.
When Thomas Aquinas & other Friars had brought the frame of this new building unto some perfection, and fashioned all things therein unto their owne best advantage: the Doctors of the Greeke Church did publickely oppose themselves against it. Matthaeus Quaestor by name wrote against Thomas herein: whose booke is still preserved in the Emperours Librarie at Vienna. So Athanasius his disputation against Purgatorie is (or lately was) to be seen in the French Kings Librarie: and the like of Germanus (Patriarch of Constantinople) and others, elsewhere. The Apologie of the Grecians touching the same subject, is commonly to be had: which was penned by aSixt. Senens. lib. 6. Bibliothec. Sanct. annotat. 259.Marcus Eugenicus archbishop of Ephesus, and bResponsio Graecorum ad positionē Latinorum, opinionem ignis purgatorii fundantium & probantium. Quae lecta & data fuit reverendiss. & reverendis patribus, & Dominis deputatis, die sabbati, XIIII. mensis Iunii, 1438. in sacristiâ frarrum minorum, Basileae Praesentata Nicolao Cusano. Mar…in. Crusius in Turco-Graeciâ, pag. 186, ex libro MS. Ioan. Capnionis.presented to Cardinall Cusanus and the deputies of the Councell of Basil, in the yeare MCCCCXXXVIII. the 14 of Iune; cAst. Concil. Florentin.the verie same day, wherein Bessarion Archbishop of Nice disputed with the Latines of the same matter in the Councell assembled at Ferraria. In that Apologie, the Grecians begin their disputation with this proposition. dforeign. Apolog Graecor. de Purgator. á Bonav. Vu…can. edit.A purgatory fire, and a punishment by fire which is temporall and shall at last have an end; neyther have we received from our Doctors, neyther doe we know that the Church of the East doth maintaine. They adde further. eforeign. Ibid.Neither have we received it from any of our Doctors, and moreover no small feare doth trouble us, least by admitting a temporary fire both penall and purgatory, wee should destroy the full consent of the Church. And thereupon they conclude verie peremptorily. fforeign. Ibid.For these reasons therefore, neyther have we ever hitherto affirmed any such thing, neither will we at all affirme it.
Yet within a yeare after, the Pope and his ministers prevailed so farre with them in the Councell at Florence, that they were content for peace sake to yeeld, that gforeign. Concil. Florentin. Sess 25.the middle sort of soules were in a place of punishment; but whether that were fire, or darkenesse and tempest, or something else, they would not contend. And accordingly was the pretented Vnion betwixt them and the Latines drawne up: that,hSi veré poenitentes in Dei charitate decesserint, antequàm dignis poenitentiae fructibus de commissis satisfecerint & omissis; eorum animas poenis purgatoriis post mortem purgari. Eugenij IV. Bulla Vnionis. ibid. Cuius foreign etiam inter foreign Cotteniana vidimus. if such as be truely penitent dye in Gods favour, before they have satisfied for their sinnes of commission and omission by worthy fruits of penance, their soules are purged after death with purgatory punishments; neither fire, nor anie other kinde of punishment being specified in particular. But neyther would Marcus the Bishop of Ephesus (who was one of the Legates of the Patriarches of Antioch and of Ierusalem) consent to this union: neither could the Greeke Church afterwards by anie meanes be drawne to yeeld unto it. And so unto this day, the Romish Purgatorie is rejected as well by the Grecians, as by the Muscovites and Russians, the Cophtites and Abassines, the Georgians and Armenians, together with the Syrians and Chaldaeans that are subject to the Patriarches of Antioch and Babylon, from Cyprus and Palaestina unto the East Indies. And this may suffice for the discoverie of this new-found creeke of Purgatorie.