Answer to a Jesuit in Ireland, Treatise · Section 6

Answer to a Jesuit in Ireland · Treatise · Section 6

p. 182OF PRAYER FOR THE DEAD.

PRayer for the dead, as it is used in the Church of Rome, doth necessarily suppose Purgatorie: and therefore whatsoever hath beene alledged out of the Scriptures and Fathers against the one, doth stand in full force against the other. so that here wee need not actum agere, and make a new worke of overthrowing that, which hath beene sufficiently beaten down alreadie. But on the other side, the admittall of Purgatorie doth not necessarily inferre Prayer for the dead: nay, if we shall suppose (with our Adversaries) that Purgatorie is the Matth. 5.26.Matt 5:26prison, from whence none shall come out, untill they have payde the utmost farthing; their owne paying, and not other mens praying, must be the thing they are to trust unto, if ever they looke to be delivered out of that jayle. Our Romanists indeed doe commonly take it for granted, that bbBishop against Perkins reform. Catholicke, part. 2. pag. 149.Purgatory and prayer for the p. 183dead be so closely lincked together, that the one doth necessarily follow the other: but in so doing, they reckon without their hoste, and greatly mistake the matter. For howsoever they may deale with their owne devises as they please, and lincke their Prayers with their Purgatorie as closely as they list: yet shall they never be able to shew, that the commemoration and prayers for the dead, used by the ancient Church, had anie relation unto their Purgatorie; and therefore whatsoever they were, Popish prayers we are sure they were not. I easily foresee, that the full opening of the judgement of the Fathers in this point, will hardly stand with that brevitie which I intended to use in treating of these latter questions: the particulars be so manie, that necessarily doe incurre into the handling of this argument. But I suppose the Reader will be content rather to dispense with that promise, whereby I did abbridge my selfe of the libertie which otherwise I might freely have taken: than be sent away unsatisfied in a matter, wherein the Adversarie beareth himselfe confident beyond measure, that the whole streame of antiquity runneth clearly upon his side.

That the truth then of things may the better appeare: we are here prudently to distinguish the originall institution of the Church, from the private opinions of particular Doctors which waded further herein then the generall intendment of the Church did give them warrant; and diligently to consider, that the memorialls, oblations and prayers made for the dead at the beginning, had reference to such as rested from their labours, and not unto anie soules which were thought to be tormented in that Vtopian Purgatorie, whereof there was no newes stirring in those dayes. p. 184This may be gathered, first, by the practise of the ancient Christians, laide down by the author of the Commentaries upon Iob, (which are wrongly ascribed unto Origen) in this maner. ccProptereà & memorias sanctorū sacimus & parentum nostrorum vel amicorum in fide morientium devoté memoriam agimus; tam illorum refrigerio gaudentes, quàm etiam nobis piam consummationem in fide postulantes. Celebramus nimirum, religiosos cum sacerdotibus convocantes, fideles unâ …um clero; invitantes adhuc egenos & pauperes, pupillos & viduas saturantes: ut fiat festivitas nostra in memoriā requiei defunctis animabus, nobis autem efficiatur in odorem suavitatis in conspectu aeterni Dei Lib. 3. commentar. in Iob, inter opera Origenis.Wee observe the memorialls of the Saints, and devoutly keepe the remembrance of our parents or friends which dye in the faith; as well rejoycing for their refreshing, as requesting also for our selves a godly consummation in the faith. Thus therefore doe we celebrate the death, not the day of the birth: because they which dye, shall live for ever. and we celebrate it, calling together religious persons with the Priests, the faithfull with the Clergie; inviting moreover the needy and the poore, feeding the orphanes and widowes: that our festivity may be for a memoriall of rest to the soules departed whose remembrance we celebrate, and to us may become a sweet savour in the sight of the eternall God. Secondly, by that which S. Cyprian writeth of Laurentinus and Ignatius: whom he acknowledgeth to have received of the Lord palmes and crownes for their famous martyrdome, and yet presently addeth. ddSacrificia pro eis semper, ut meministis, offerimus; quoties martyrum passiones & dies anniversariâ commemoratione celebramus. Cyprian. epist. 34.Wee offer sacrifices alwayes for them, when we celebrate the passions and dayes of the martyrs with an anniversarie commemoration. Thirdly, by that which we reade in the author of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy, set out under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. For where the partie deceased is described by him to have departed out of this life eeVid. supr. pag. 167.replenished with divine joy, as now not fearing any change to worse, being come unto the end of all his labours; and to have been both privately acknowledged by his friends, and publickly pronounced by the ministers of the Church to p. 185be a happy man, and to be verily admitted into the ffforeign. Dionys. Ecclesiact. hierarch. cap 7.societie of the Saincts that have beene from the beginning of the world: yet doth he declare, that the Bishop made prayer for him, (upon what ground we shall afterward heare) that ggforeign. Ibid.God would forgive him all the sinnes that he had committed through humane infirmitie, and bring him into the light and the land of the living, into the bosomes of Abraham, Isaac and Iacob, into the place from whence paine and sorrow and sighing flyeth. Fourthly, by the funerall ordinances of the Church, related by S. Chrysostome: which were appointed to admonish the living, that the parties deceased were in a state of joy and not of griefe. hhforeign; Chrysost. in epist. ad H…br. homil. 4.For tell me (saith he) what doe the bright lampes meane? doe wee not accompany them therewith as champions? What meane the Hymnes? iiforeign. Id. ibid.Consider what thou dost sing at that time. Returne my soule unto thy rest; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. and againe: I will feare no evill, because thou art with me. and againe: Thou art my refuge from the affliction that compasseth me. Consider what these Psalmes meane.

Fiftly, by the formes of the prayers that are found in the ancient Liturgies. as in that of the Churches of Syria, attributed unto S. Basil: kkMemento etiam Domine eorum qui decesserunt migrarunt que ex hâc vitâ & Episcoporum orthodoxorum qui inde á Petro & Iacobo Apostolis ad hunc us que diem, rectū Fidei verbū claré sunt professi; & nominatim Ignatij, Dionysij, Iulij, ac reliquorū Divorū laudabilis memoriae. Memento Domine eorū quo que qui us que ad sanguinem pro Religione steterūt, & Gregem tuū sacrum per justitiā & sanctitatem paverunt, &c. Basilij Anaphora, ab Andr. Masio. ex Syriaco conversa.Be mindefull, O Lord, of them which are dead, and are departed out of this life, and of the orthodoxe Bishops which from Peter and Iames the Apostles untill this day have clearely professed the right word of Faith; and namely, of Ignatius, Dionysius, Iulius, p. 186and the rest of the Saincts of worthy memory. Be mindfull, O Lord, of them also which have stood unto blood for Religion, and by righteousnesse and holinesse have fedd thy holy Flock. and in the Liturgie fathered upon the Apostles: llforeign, etc. Conctitus. Apostolic. lib. 8. cap. 12.We offer unto thee for all the Saints vvhichwhich have pleased thee from the beginning of the world, Patriarches, Prophets, Iust men, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, &c. and in the Liturgies of the Churches of Aegypt, which carry the title of S. Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and Cyrill of Alexandria. mmMemento Domine sanctorum tuorū: dignare ut recorderis omniū sanctorum tuorum, qui tibi placuerunt ab initio, Patrum nostrorum sanctorum, Patriarcharum, Prophetarum, Apostolorum, Martyrū, Confessorum, Euangelizantium, Euangelistarū, & omnium spirituum justorū, qui obierunt in fide: & inprimis sanctae, gloriosae semper que virginis Dei genitricis Mariae; & sancti Ioannis Praecursoris, Baptistae & Martyris; Sancti Stephani protodiaconi & protomartyris; Sancti Marci Apostoli, Euangelistae & Martyris; &c. Liturg. Aegyptiac. Basilij, Gregorij▪ & Cyrilli, á Victorio Scialach ex Arabico convers pag. 22.47. & 60. ed…t. August ann. 1604.Bee mindfull, O Lord, of thy Saints: vouchsafe to remember all thy Saints, which have pleased thee from the beginning, our holy Fathers, the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Preachers, Evangelists, and all the soules of the just, which have dyed in the faith: and especially, the holy, glorious, the evermore Virgin, Mary the mother of God; and S. Iohn the forerunner, the Baptist and Martyr; S. Stephen the first Deacon and Martyr; S. Marke the Apostle, Evangelist and Martyr; &c. and in the Liturgie of the Church of Constantinople, ascribed to S. Chrysostom: nnforeign. Chrysost. Li…urg. Graec.We offer unto thee this reasonable service, for those who are at rest in the faith, our Forefathers, Fathers, Patriarches, Prophets, and Apostles, Preachers, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors, religious persons, and every spirit perfected in the faith. but especially for our most holy, immaculate, most blessed Lady, the mother of God and aye-virgin Mary. which kinde of oblation for p. 187the Saincts sounding somewhat harshly in the eares of the Latines, Leo Thuscus in his translation thought best to expresse it to their better liking after this maner. ooAdhuc offerimu… tibi rationabile hoc obsequium pro fideliter dormientibus, pro patribus & proavis nostris▪ intervenientibus Patriarchis, Prophetis, Apostolis, Martyribus, Confessoribus, & omnibus Sanctis. Chrysost. Liturg. Latin.We offer unto thee this reasonable service for the faithfully deceased, for our fathers and fore-fathers; the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and all the Saints interceding for them. As if the phrase of ppforeign; Chrysost. homil. 21. in Act. tom. 4. edit. Sávil. pag. 736. & tom. 7. pag. 928.offering for the Martyrs, were not to be found in S. Chrysostoms own workes: and more universally qqforeign. Epiphan. haeres. 75.for the just, both the Fathers, and the Patriarches, the Prophets and Apostles, and Evangelists and Martyrs and Confessors, the Bishops and such as ledd a solitarie life, and the whole order; in the suffrages of the Church, rehearsed by Epiphanius. yea and in the Western Church it selfe: rrPro spiritibus pausantiū Hilarij, Athanasij, Martini, Ambrosij, Augustini, Fulgentij, Leandri, Isidori, &c. Offic. …zarab. apud Eugen. R…bi…sium, in vi…â Francis…i Ximenij.for the spirits of those that are at rest, Hilary, Athanasius, Martin, Ambrose, Augustin, Fulgentius, Leander, Isidorus, &c. as may be seene in the Muzarabicall Office used in Spaine.

Sixthly, this may be confirmed out of the funerall orations of S. Ambrose: in one whereof, touching the Emperour Valentinian and his brother Gratian, thus he speaketh. ssCredamus quia ascendit á deserto, hoc est, ex hoc arido & inculto loco ad illas florulentas delectationes, ubi cum fratre conjunctus aeternae vitae fruitur voluptate. Beati ambo: si quid meae orationes valebunt; nulla dies vos silentio praeteribit. Nulla inhonoratos vos mea transibit oratio. Nulla nox non donatos aliquâ precum mearum contextione transcurret Omnibus vos oblationibu… frequentabo. Ambros. …e obitu Valentinians Imp.Let us beleeve that Valentinian is ascended from the desert, that is to say, from this dry and unmanured place unto those flowry delights; where being conjoyned with his brother, hee enjoyeth the pleasure of everlasting life. Blessed are you both: if my orizons shall prevayle anie thing; no day shall overslip you in silence. no oration p. 188of mine shall passe you over unhonoured. no night shall runne by, wherein I will not bestow upon you some portion of my prayers. With all oblations will I frequent you. In another, he prayeth thus unto God: ttDa requiem perfecto servo tuo Theodosio, requiem quam praeparasti sanctis tuis. Id. de obitu Theodosij Imp.Give rest unto thy perfect servant Theodosius, that rest which thou hast prepared for thy Saints. and yet hee had said before of him: uuAbsolutus igitur dubio certamine fruitur nunc augustae memoriae Theodosius luce perpetuâ, tranquillitate diutu…nâ; & pro ijs quae in hoc gessit corpore, munerationis divinae fructibus gratulator. Ergo quia dilexit augustae memoriae Theodosius Dominum Deum suum, meruit sanctorū consortia. Id. ibid.Theodosius of honourable memory being freed from doubtfull fight, doth now enjoy everlasting light and continuall tranquillitie; and for the things which he did in this bodie, he rejoyceth in the fruits of Gods reward: because he loved the Lord his God, he hath obtayned the societie of the Saints. and afterward also. xxManet ergo in lumine Theodosius, & sanctorum caetibus gloriatur. Ibid.Theodosius remaineth in light, and glorieth in the companie of the Saints. In a third, he prayeth thus for his brother Satyrus: yyTibi nunc omnipotens Deus innoxiam commendo animam, tibi hostiam meam offero: cape propitius ac serenus fraternum munus, sacrificiū sacerdotis. Id. de obi…u fratris.Almightie God, I now commend unto thee his harmelesse soule, to thee doe I make my oblation; accept mercifully and gratiously the office of a brother, the sacrifice of a Priest. although he had directly pronounced of him before, that zzIntravit in regnum coelorum, quoniam credidit Dei verbo, &c. Id. ibid.he had entred into the kingdome of heaven, because he beleeved the word of God, and excelled in manie notable vertues. Lastly, in one of his Epistles he comforteth Faustinus for the death of his sister, after this maner. aaTot igitur semirutarum urbium cadavera, terrarum que sub eodem conspectu exposita funera; non te admonent unius, sanctae licèt & admirabilis▪ foeminae decessionem consolabiliorem habendam? praesertim cùm illa in perpetuum prostrata ac …iruta sint; haec autem ad tempus quidem erepta nobis meliorem illic vitam exigat. Ita que non tam deplorandam, quàm prosequendā orationibus reor: nec moestificandā lachrymis …uis, sed magis oblationibus animam ejus Domino cōmendandam arbitror. Id. epist. 8.Doe not the carkases of so many halfe-ruined cities, and the funeralls of so much land exposed under one view, admonish thee; that the departure of one woman, although a holy and an admirable one, should be p. 189born with greater consolation? especially seeing they are cast down and overthrowen for ever; but she, being taken from us but for a time, doth passe a better life there. I therefore thinke, that she is not so much to be lamented, as to be followed with prayers: and am of the minde, that she is not to be made sadde with thy teares, but rather that her soule should be commended with oblations unto the Lord. Thus farre S. Ambrose. Unto whom we may adjoyne Gregory Nazianzen also: who in his funerall oration that he made upon his brother Caesarius, having acknowledged that he had bbforeign. Greg. Nazianz in fun. Caesarij, orat. 10.received those honours that did befit a new created soule, which the Spirit had reformed by water (for he had beene but lately baptized before his departure out of this life) doth notwithstanding pray, ccforeign Ibid.that the Lord would be pleased to receive him.

Diverse instances of the like practise in the ages following, I have produced in another ddDiscourse of the Religion prof…ssed by …he ancient I…ish. pag. 21.22.23.place: to which I will adde some few more, to the end that the Reader may from thence observe, how long the primitive institution of the Church did hold up head among the tares that grew up with it, and in the end did quite choake and extinguish it. Our English Saxons had learned of Gregory to pray for reliefe of those soules that were supposed to suffer paine in Purgatorie: and yet the introducing of that noveltie was not able to justle out the ancient usage of making prayers and oblations for them which were not doubted to have beene at rest in Gods kingdome. And therefore the brethren of the Church of Hexham, in the anniversarie commemoration of the obite of Oswald King of Northumberland, used eeVigilias pro salute animae ejus facere, plurimaque psalmorum lande celebratâ, victimā pro eo manè sacrae oblationis offerre. Bed▪ lib. 3. histor. Ecclesiast. cap. 2.to keep their Vigiles for the health of his soule, and having spent the night in praysing of God with psalmes, to offer for him in the morning the sacrifice of the p. 190sacred oblation, as Beda writeth: who telleth us yet withall, that ffId. ibid. cap. 12. & 14.he raigned with God in heaven, and by his praye…s procured manie miracles to be wrought on earth. So likewise doth the same Bede ggId. lib. 4. hist. cap. 23.report, that when it was discovered by two severall visions, that Hilda the Abbesse of Streansheale (or Whitby in Yorkeshire) was carried up by the Angels into heaven; they which heard thereof presently caused prayers to be said for her soule. And Osberne relateth the like of Dunstan: that being at Bathe, and hhRepentè ad superna rap…us cujusdam discipuli nobiliter á se apud Glestoniam educati animam innumerâ Angelorū frequentiâ hinc inde stipatam, atque immensi luminis sulgore perfusam, ad coeli palatium provehi conspexit. Moxque in manus divi…ae pietatis eā commendans, dominos quo que loci ad commendandum invitat. Osbernus, in vitâ S. Dunstani, MS. in Bibli…thec. Cottonianâ & …odl…ianâ. Notandum veró, in Io. Capgravij Legendâ (in quâ prior narrationis huius pars ad verbum ex Osberno, ut alia de Dunstano complura, descripta cernitur) p…steriorem hanc sententiam omit…i peni…ùs: in Eadm…ro veró (ex quo, non autem ex Osberno vel O…berto, Vita Dunstani quae Mai. 19. apud Surium legitur est desumpta) ita tantummodò ref…rri. Qui pro tantâ gloriâ fratris ultrà quàm dici queat exultans, & immensas corde & ore Deo cunctipotenti gratias agens; socijs quid acciderit manifestâ voce exposuit, & diem ac horam transitus ejus notari praecepit.beholding in such another vision the soule of one that had been his scholer at Glastenbury, to be carried up into the palace of heaven; he straightway commended the same into the hands of the divine pie…ie, and intreated the lords of the place where he was to do so likewise.

Other narrations of the same kind may be found among them that have written of Saincts lives: & particularly in the Tome published by Mosander, pag. 69. touching the decease of Bathildis Queen of France; & pa. 25. concerning the departure of Godfry Earle of Cappenberg. who is said there to have appeared unto a certain Abbess, called Gerbergis, & to have acquainted her, iiNoveris, ait, me modo sine ullâ dilatione, aut ullo severioris examinis periculo ad summi Regis palatium commigrâsse, atque tanquàm Regis immortalis filium beatâ immortalitate vestitum. Vit. Godefrid. cap. 13. á Iac. Mosandro edit. Colon. an. 1581.that he was now without all delay, & without all danger of any more severe triall, gone unto the palace of the highest King, and as the sonne of the immortall King was cloathed with blessed immortalitie. & the Monk that writ the Legend p. 191addeth, that kkMox fratribus Cappenbergensibus indicavit beati viri obitum, & pro eo Missae sacrificium offerendum curavit. Ibid.shee presently thereupon caused the sacrifice of the Masse to be offered for him. which how fabulous soever it may be for the matter of the vision, yet doth it strongly prove, that within these 500. years (for no longer since it is, that this is accounted to have bene done) the use of offering for the soules of those that were beleeved to be in heaven was still retayned in the Church. The letters of Charles the great unto Offa King of Mercia are yet extant; wherein hee llDeprecantes ut pro eo intercedi jubeatis: nullam habentes dubitationē, beatam illius animam in requie esse; sed ut fidem & dilectionem nostram ostendamus in amicum nostrum charissimum. Carol. M. apud Guil. Malmesburiens. de g…st. reg. Anglor. li. 1. cap. 4.wisheth that intercessions should be made for Pope Adrian then lately deceased: not having any doubt at all (saith hee) but that his blessed soule is at rest; but that we may shew our faithfulnesse and love unto our most deare friend. Lastly, Pope Innocent the third (or the second rather) being inquired of by the Bishop of Cremona, concerning the state of a certaine Priest that dyed without Baptisme: resolveth him out of S. Augustine and S. Ambrose, that mmQuia in sanctae matris Ecclesiae fide, & Christi nominis confessione perseveravit; ab originali peccato solutum, & coelestis patriae gaudium esse adeptum, asserimus incunctanter. Decretal. lib. 3. tit. 43. de presbytero non baptizato, cap. 2. Apostolicam. & Collect. 1. Bernardi Papiensis, lib. 5. …it. 35 cap. 2.because he continued in the faith of the holy mother the Church and the confession of the name of Christ; he was assoyled from originall sinne, and had attayned the joy of the heavenly country. Upon which ground at last he maketh this conclusion: nnSopitis igitur quaestionibus, docto…um patrū sententias teneas: & in Ecclesiâ tuâ juges preces hostias que Deo offerri jubeas pro presbytero memorato. Ibid.Ceasing therefore all questions, hold the sentences of the learned Fathers; and command continuall prayers and sacrifices to bee offered unto God in thy Church for the foresaid Priest.

Now having thus declared, unto what kinde of persons the Commemorations ordained by the ancient Church did extend: the next thing that commeth to consideration is, what we are to conceive of the primarie p. 192intention of those prayers that were appointed to be made therein. And here we are to understand, that first prayers of Praise and Thankesgiving were presented unto God for the blessed estate that the partie deceased was now entred upon: whereunto were afterwards added prayers of Deprecation and Petition, that God would be pleased to forgive him his sinnes, to keep him from Hell, and to place him in the kingdome of Heaven. which kinde of intercessions, howsoever at first they were well meant (as we shall heare) yet in processe of time they proved an occasion of confirming men in diverse errors; especially when they beganne once to be applyed not onelyonly to the good but to evill livers also, unto whom by the first institution they never were intended.

The terme of foreign, a thankesgiving prayer, I borrow from the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy: who in the description of the funerall observances used of old in the Church, informeth us, first, that the friends of the dead ooforeign (vel foreign. Dionys. Ecclesiast. Hierarch. cap. 7.accounted him to be (as he was) blessed, because that according to his wish he had obtained a victorious end: and thereupon sent forth Hymnes of thankesgiving to the authour of that victory; desiring withall, that they themselves might come unto the like end. and then that ppforeign. Ibid.the Bishop likewise offered up a prayer of thankesgiving unto God; when the dead was afterward qqforeign. Ibid.brought unto him, to receive as it were at his hands a sacred coronation. Thus at the funerall of Fabiola, the praysing of God by singing rrSonabant Psalmi; & aurata tecta templorum, reboans in sublime qua…icbat alleluia. Hieronym. inepitaphio Fabiola, epist. 30.of Psalmes, and resounding of Alleluia, is specially mentioned by p. 193S. Hierom: and the generall practise and intention of the Church therein is expressed and earnestly urged by S. Chrysostom in this maner. ssforeign. Chrysost. in epist. ad Hebr. homil. 4.Do not we prayse God, and give thankes unto him for that he hath now crowned him that is departed, for that he hath freed him from his labours, for that quitting him from feare he keepeth him with himselfe? Are not the Hymnes for this end? Is not the singing of Psalmes for this purpose? All these be tokens of rejoycing. Whereupon hee thus presseth them that used immoderate mourning for their dead. ttforeign; Id. ibid.Thou sayest; Returne, O my soule, unto thy rest, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee: and dost thou weepe? Is not this a stage-play, is it not meere simulation? For if thou dost indeed beleeve the things that thou sayest, thou lamentest idely: but if thou playest, and dissemblest, and thinkest these things to be fables; why doest thou then sing? why doest thou suffer those things that are done? Wherefore doest thou not drive away them that sing? and in the end hee concludeth somewhat prophetically; that he uuforeign Ibid.very much feared, lest by this meanes some grievous disease should creepe in upon the Church.

Whether the doctrine now maintayned in the Church of Rome, that the children of God presently after their departure out of this life, are cast into a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, be not a spice of this disease, and whether their practise in chanting of Psalmes (appointed for the expression of joy & thankfulnesse) over them whom they esteeme to be torme… ted in so lamentable a fashion, be not a part of that scene and pageant at which S. Chrysostom doth so take on: I leave it unto others to judge. That his feare was not altogether vaine, the event it selfe doth shew. For howsoever in his dayes, the fire of the Romish Purgatorie p. 194was not as yet kindled: yet were there certain sticks then a gathering, which ministred fuell afterwards unto that flame. Good S. Augustin, (who lived three and twentie years after S. Chrysostoms death) declared himselfe to be of this minde: that the xxCùm sacrificia sive altaris sive quarumcun que eleemosynarum pro baptizatis defunctis omnibus offeruntur; pro valde bonis gratiarum actiones sunt, pro non valde malis propitiationes sunt, pro valde malis etsi nulla sunt adjumenta mortiorum, qualescun que vivorū consolationes sunt. Augus…in. En…h…rid. ad Laurent. cap. 110.oblations and almes usually offered in the Church for all the dead that received baptisme, were thankesgivings for such as were very good, propitiations for such as were not very bad; but as for such as were very evill, although they were no helpes of the dead, yet were they some kinde of consolations of the living. And although this were but a private exposition of the Churches meaning in her prayers and oblations for the dead; and the opinion of a Doctor too, that did not hold Purgatorie to be anie article of his Creed: yet did the Romanists in times following greedily take hold of this, and make it the maine foundation upon which they laid the hay and stubble of their devised Purgatorie.

A private exposition I call this: not onelyonly because it is not to be found in the writings of the former Fathers, but also because it suteth not well with the generall practise of the Church which it intendeth to interpret. It may indeed fit in some sort that part of the Church-service, wherein there was made a severall commemoration, first of the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs, after one maner; and then of the other dead, after another: which, together with the conceit that yyAugustin. de Verbis Apostoli, serm. 17.an injury was offered to a Martyr, by praying for him, was it that first occasioned S. zzId. ibid. & in Euang. Iohan. tracta…. 84.Augustin to thinke of the former distinction. But in the aaNon sunt praetermittendae supplicationes pro spiritibus mortuorum: quas faciendas pro omnibus in Christianâ & Catholicá societate defunctis, etiam tacitis nominibus quorumque, sub generali commemoratione suscepit Ecclesia. Id. de Curâ pro mortuis, cap 4.supplications for the spirits of the dead, which the Church under p. 195a generall commemoration was accustomed to make for all that we…e deceased in the Christian and Catholicke communion: to imagine, that one and the same act of praying should be a petition for some, and for others a thankesgiving only, is somwhat too harsh an interpretation. especially where we finde it propounded by way of petition, and the intention thereof directly expressed. as in the Greek Liturgie, attributed to S. Iames, the brother of our Lord: bbforeign. Iacob. Liturg.Be mindfull (O Lord God of the spirits and of all flesh) of such as vve have remembred and such as we have not remembred, being of right beleefe, from Abel the just untill this present day. Do thou cause them to rest in the land of the living, in thy kingdome, in the delight of Paradise, in the bosoms of Abrahā and Isaac & Iacob, our holy fathers: whence griefe & sorrow & sighing are fledd, where the light of thy countenance doth visit them and shine for ever. and in the Offices compiled by Alcuinus: ccTe, Domine sancte Pater omnipotens aeterne Deus, supplices deprecamur pro spiritibus famulorum & famu…arum tuarum, quos ab origine seculi hujus ad te accersire praecepisti: u… digneri…, Domine, dare eis locum luc…dum, locum refrigerij & quietis; & ut liceat eis transire portas infernorum, & vias tenebrarum, maneantque in mansionibus Sanctorum, & in luce sanctâ quam olim Abrahae promisisti & semini ejus Alcuin. Offic. per ferias. col. 228. Oper. edit. Pa…is. ann. 16.7.O Lord, holy Father, almightie and everlasting God, we humbly make request unto thee for the spirits of thy servants and handmaydes, vvhichwhich from the beginning of this world thou hast called unto thee: that thou wouldest vouchsafe, O Lord, to give unto them a lightsome place, a place of refreshing and ease; and that they may passe by the gates of hell, and the vvayes of darkenesse, and may abide in the mansions of the Saincts, and in the holy light which thou didst promise of old unto Abraham and his seed.

So the Commemoration of the faithfull departed, retained as yet in the Romane Missall, is begun with this orizon: p. 196ddRequiem aeternam dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Intruitus Missae, in Commem…ratione omnium fidelium defunctorū. Agēda mortuorū. in Antiphonario Gregorij, circ fin.Eternall rest grant unto them, O Lord: and let everlasting light shine unto them. Whereunto we may adde these two prayers (to omit a great number more of the like kinde) used of old in the same Church. eeSuscipe, sancta Trinitas, hāc oblationē, quā tibi offerimus pro omnibus in tui nominis confessione defunctis: ut te dexterā auxilij tui porrigente, vitae perennis requiē habeāt; & á poenis impiorū segregati, semp…r in tuae laudis laetitiâ perseverēt. Miss… Latinae antiqua, edit. A…gentin. an. 1557. pa…. 52.Receive, O holy Trinitie, this oblation, vvhichwhich vve offer unto thee for all that are departed in the confession of thy name: that thou reaching unto them the right hand of thy helpe, they may have the rest of everlasting life; and being separated from the punishments of the wicked, they may alwayes persevere in the joy of thy praise. and, ffHanc igitur oblationē, quā tibi pro cōmemoratione animarū in pace dormientiū suppliciter immolamus, quae sumus, Domine, benignus accipias; & tuâ pietate cōcedas, ut & nobis proficiat hujus p…etatis affectus, & illis impetret beatitudinem sempiternam. Offic. Gregorian. tom. 5. Oper. Gr…gor. edit Paris an. 1605. col. 235.236. Tom. 2. Li…urgic. Pamelij pag. 610 & Praefation. verust …it. Colon an. 1530. num. 111.This oblation, which we humbly offer unto thee for the commemoration of the soules that sleepe in peace, we beseech thee, O Lord, receive graciously; and of thy goodnesse grant, that both the affection of this pietie may profite us, and obtaine for them everlasting blisse. Where you may observe, that the soules unto which everlasting blisse was wished for, were yet acknowledged to rest in peace, & consequently not to be disquieted with anie Purgatorie torment. even as in the Canon of the Masse it selfe, the Priest in the Commemoration for the dead praieth thus: ggMemento etiam, Domine, famulorū famularamque tuarum, qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei, & dormiunt in somno pacis. Ipsis Domine, & omnibus in Christo quiescētibus, locū refrigerij, lucis & pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur. Canon. Missae, in Officio Ambrosiano & Gregoriano, & Missa…. Roma…o in Graecâ tamen Li…urgiâ B. Petro at…ributâ pro Cōmemoratione defunctorū posita …îc cernitu… Comm…mora…io viventium (foreign.) & in vetustissimis quibusdā Romanis Missalibus manuscriptis, haec mortuorū cōmemorationi… formula nusquā extat: (P. … lib 5. de adultera…. Coen. Dom. & Misse myst…r cap. 48.) a…nominatim in votust…ssimo Canone Gregoriano, qu… in Tigurinae Abbatiae Biblioth…câ habebatur, ex authentico libro Bibliothecae cubiculi descriptus, (apud Henric. Bullinger lib. 2. de Origine erroris, cap. 8.)Remember, O Lord, thy servants and handmaydes, vvhichwhich have gone before us with the ensigne of faith, and sleepe in the sleepe of peace. To them, O Lord, and to all that are at p. 197rest in Christ, we beseech thee that thou wouldest graunt a place of refreshing, light, and peace.

Nay the Armenians in their Liturgie, intreat God to hhP…r han… etiam obl…tionē da aeternā pa…ē omnibus. qui nos praece…serunt in fide Christi, …anctis patribus, Patriarchis, Apostolis, Prophetis, Martyribus, &c. Litu…g. Armen. edi…. Cra… viae, Andreâ Lubel…z…ck interp….give eternall peace, not only in generall unto all that have gone before us in the faith of Christ; but also in particular to the Patriarches, Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs. which maketh directly for the opinion of those (against whom iiS…d hîc nonnulli decepti sunt, non gratiarum actionem, sed pro sanctis ad Deū supplicationē, eorum memoriam esse putantes. Cabasil. exposit. Liturg. cap. 49.Nicolaus Cabasilas doth dispute) who held, that these Commemorations contayned a supplication for the Sainctes unto God, and not a thankesgiving only. as also doe those formes of prayer which were used in the Roman Liturgie in the dayes of Pope Innocent the third: kkProsit vel proficiat, huic sancto vel illi, talis oblatio ad gloriam. Innocent. III. epist. ad archiep. Lugdun. lib. 3. Decretal tit. 41. de celebrat. missar. cap. 6. Cùm Marthae.Let such an oblation profit such or such a Sainct unto glory. and especially that for S. Leo, which is found in the elder copies of the Gregorian Sacramentarie. llAnnue nobis, Domine, ut animae famuli tui Leonis haec prosit oblatio. Gregor. oper. tom 5. edit. Paris. an. 1…05. col 135 d.Grant unto us, O Lord, that this oblation may profit the soule of thy servant Leo. for which the later bookes have chopt in this prayer: mmAnnue nobis Domine, ut intercessione famuli tui Leonis haec nobis prosit oblatio. Liturgic. Pamelij, tom. 2. pag. 314.Grant unto us, O Lord, that by the intercession of thy servant Leo this oblation may profit us. Concerning which alteration, when the archbishop of Lyons propounded such another question unto Pope Innocent, as our Challenger at the beginning did unto us; nnTertio loco tua fraternitas requirit, quis mutaverit, vel quando fuit mutatum, aut quare, quod in secretâ beati Leonis, secundum quod antiquiores codice… cont…nent, &c. Inno…ent. …11. in Collect. 3. De…retal. (Petri Beneventam) l…b. 3. tit 33 cap. 5.vvho it was that did change it, or when it was changed, or why? the Pope returneth him for answer: ooSuper quo ribi taliter respondemus: quòd quis illud mutaverit, aut quando mutatum fuerit, ignoramus; scimus tamen, quâ fuerit occasione mutatum. quia cùm sacrae scripturae dicat auctoritas, quòd injuriam facit martyri, qui orat pro martyre: idem est ratione consimili de sanctis alijs sciendum. Ibid.that who did change it, or when it was changed, p. 198he was ignorant of; yet he knew, upon what occasion it was changed. because that, where the authoritie of the Holy Scripture doth say, that he doth injurie unto a Martyr who prayeth for a Martyr, which is a new text of holy Scripture, of the Popes owne canonization) the same by the like reason is to be held of other Saincts. The Glosse upon this Decretall layeth down the reason of this mutation a little more roundly: ppOlim orabatur pro ipso: hodie ipse orat pro nobis. et ita mutatum est. Cap. Cùm Marthae. Extra. de celebr. Missar. in Glossa.Of old they prayed for him, now at this day hee prayeth for us; and so vvas the change made. And qqAlphons. Mendoz Controvers. Theolog. quaest. 6. scholastic. …um. 7.Alphonsus Mendoza telleth us, that the old prayer was deservedly disused, and this other substituted in the roome thereof: Grant unto us, we beseech thee O Lord, that by the intercession of thy servant Leo this oblation may profit us. which prayer indeed was to be found heretofore in modernioribus Sacramentarijs (as Pope Innocent speaketh) and in the Roman Missalls that were published before the Councell of Trent (as namely in that which was printed at Paris, an. 1529.) but in the new reformed Missall (wherwith, it seemeth, Mendoza was not so well acquainted as with his Scholasticall controversies) it is put out againe, and another prayer for Leo put in; that by the celebration of those Vt per haec piae placationis officia, et illum beata retributio comitetur, & nobis gratiae tuae dona conciliet. Missal. Roman. ex decreto Concil. Tridentin. restitut. in festo S. Leonis.offices of atonement, a blessed retribution might accompanie him. Neither is there anie more wrong done unto S. Leo, in praying for him after this maner, then unto all the rest of his fellowes in that other prayer of the Romane Liturgie: ssSumpsimus, Domine, divina mysteria: quae sicut Sanctis tuis prosunt ad gloriam, ita nobis, quaesumus, proficiant ad medelam Bellarmin. de Purgator. lib. 2. cap. 18. Six…, Senens. lib. 6. Bibliothec. Sanct. annotat. 47. ex Gregorij Sacramentario.We have received, O Lord, the divine mysteries; which as they doe profit thy Saints unto glory, so we do beseech thee that they may profit us for our healing, and nothing so much as p. 199is done unto all the faithfull deceased, when in their Masses for the dead they say daily: ttDomine Iesu Chris…e, rex gloriae, libera animas omniū fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni, & de profundo lacu: liberae eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas Tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum. Missa in Commemorat. omniū fidelium defunctorum. & in Missi… Quotidianis defunctorū. in Offertorio.Lord Iesus Christ, king of glory, deliver the soules of all the faithfull that are departed, from the paines of Hell, and from the deepe lake; deliver them from the mouth of the Lion, that Hell do not swallow them up, that they fall not into darkenesse. So that whatsoever commodious expositions our Adversaries can bring for the justifying of the Romane service: the same may wee make use of, to shew, that the ancient Church might pray for the dead, and yet in so doing have no relation at all unto Purgatorie; yea and pray for the Martyrs and other Saincts that were in the state of blisse, without offering unto them anie injurie thereby.

For the clearing of the meaning of those prayers which are made for Leo, and the other Saincts, to the two expositiōs brought in by Pope Innocent, Cardinall Bellarmine addeth this for a third; uuAdde tertio, fortasse peti gloriam corporis, quam habebunt in die resurrectionis. Nam etiamsi gloriam illam ce…tó consequentur, & debetur eorum meritis; tamen non est absurdum hoc illis desiderare & petere, ut pluribus modis debeatur. Bellarmin de Purgator. li. 2. ca. 18.that peradventure therin the glory of the body is petitioned for, which they shal have in the day of the Resurrectiō. For although (saith he) they shal certainly obtain that glory, & it be due unto their merits; yet it is not absurd to desire & aske this for them, that by more meanes it may be due unto them. Where, laying aside those unsavourie termes of debt and merits (whereof we shall have occasion to treate in their proper place) the answer is otherwise true in part, but not full enough to give satisfaction unto that which was objected. For the primary intention of the Church indeed, in her prayers for the dead, had reference unto the day of the Resurrection: which also in diverse places we finde to have beene expressely prayed for. as in the Aegyptian Liturgie, attributed unto S. Cyrill Bishop p. 200of Alexandria. xxResuscita corpora eorū, in die quem constituisti, secundum promissiones tuas veras & mendacij expertes: concede eis secundùm promissa tua, id quod non vi…it oculus, & auris non audivit, & quod in cor hominis no… ascendi…, quod praeparasti Domine amatoribus nominis …ui sancti; ut samuli tui non p…rmaneant in morte, sed ut inde emigrent, etiamsi p…rsecuta sit eos pigritia aut negligentia, &c Cyrill. Liturg. á Victorio Sci…la…h. ex Arabico convers. pag. 62.Raise up their bodies, in the day which thou hast appointed, according to thy promises which are true and cannot lye: graunt unto them, according to thy promises, that vvhichwhich eye hath not seene, and eare hath not heard, and which hath not ascended into the heart of man; which thou hast prepared, O Lord, for them that love thy holy name: that thy servants may not remaine in death, but may get out from thence; although slouthfulnesse and negligence have followed them. and in that which is used by the Christians of S. Thomas (as they are commonly called) in the East Indies: yyResurrectionē faciat defunctis vestris in die novissimo; & dignos faciat illos regno incorruptibili Spiritus sanctus Missa Angamaliensis ex Sy…iaco convers in Itinerar. Alexij. Menesij.Let the holy Gh…st give resurrection to your dead at the last day; and make them vvorthy of the incorruptible kingdome. Such is the prayer of S. Ambrose for Gratian and Valentinian the Emperours: zzTe quaeso; summe Deus, ut charissimos juvenes maturâ resurrectione suscites & resuscites; ut immaturū hunc vitae istius cursū maturâ resurrectione compenses. Ambros. de obit Valentin…ani: in ipso fine.I doe beseech thee, most high God, that thou wouldest rayse up againe those deare yong men with a speedie resurrection; that thou mayest recompence this untimely course of this present life vvith a timely resurrection. and that in Alcuinus: aaNullā laesionē sustineāt animae eorū; sed cùm magnus ille dies resurrectionis ac remunerationis advenerit, resuscitare eos digneris, Domine, unâ eū Sāctis & electis tuis. Alcuin Offi… per f…rias; Oper. col 228 Prece…. Eccl…siast. á Georg. Cassan…ro colle…t. pag. …84 oper.Let their soules sustaine no hurt; but when that great day of the resurrection and remuneration shall come, vouchsafe to raise them up, O Lord, together with thy Saincts and thine elect. and that in Grimoldus his Sacramentarie: bbOmnipotens sempiterne Deus, collocare dignare corpus & animā & spiritū famuli tui N. in sinibus Abrahae, Isaac, & Iacob; ut cùm dies agnitionis tuae venerit, inter sanctos & electos tuos eū resuscitari praecipias G…imola Sac…am…nt. tom. 2. Liturgi… Pamel. pag. 456.457. Habetur eadem o…atio in Missali R…mano nondùm reformato (nam in novo ex de…reto Con…ilij …ridentini restituto nusquā com…are… ) corporis ta…tùm mentione omissâ: & tomo 5. oper. Gregorij edit. Paris. an. 1605. col. 234. corporis simul & spiritus nominibus praetermissis.Almightie p. 201and everlasting God, vouchsafe to place the body and the soule and the spirit of thy servant N. in the bosomes of Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob; that vvhen the day of thy acknowledgement shall come, thou mayest command them to be raysed up among thy Saincts and thine elect.

But yet the Cardinalls answer, that the glorie of the body may be prayed for, which the Saincts shall have at the day of the Resurrection, commeth somewhat short of that which the Church used to request in the behalfe of S. Leo. For in that prayer expresse mention is made of his soule: and to it is wished that profit may redound by the present oblation. And therefore this defect must be supplyed out of his answer unto that other praier which is m…de for the soules of the faithfull depa…ted, that they may be delivered out of the mouth of the Lion, and that Hell may not swallow them up. To this he saith; that ccEccl…sia orat pro animabus, quae in Pu…gatorio degu…, ne damn…tur ad poenas Gehennae sempirernas; non quid…m quòd certū non sit, eas non damnandas ad eas poenas, sed quia vult Deus, no… orare etiā pro ijs rebus, quas certó accepturi súmus. Bellarm. de Purgator. l…b. 2 cap. 5.the Church doth pray for these soules, that they may not be condemned unto the everlasting paines of Hell: not as if it were not certain, that they should not be condemned unto those paines, but because it is Gods pleasure that we should pray, even for those things which we are certainly to receive. The same answer did Alphonsus de Castro give before him: that ddSaepissimè petuntur illa quae certó sciuntur eventura ut petuntur: & hujus rei plurima sunt testimonia. A…h…ns Caestr. contr haeres. lib. 12. de Purgator. haer. 3.very often those things are prayed for, which are certainely knowne shall come to passe as they are prayed for; and that of this there be very manie testimonies. and Iohannes Medina: that eeGaudet Deus orari, etiam pro his, quae alioqui facturus esset. Decreverat enim Deus post peccatum Adae, carnem sumere; decrevit que tempus, quo venturus erat: & gratae illi fuerunt orationes Sanctorū pro sua incarnation…, & adven…u orantium Decrevit etiam Deus omni peccatori poenitenti veniā dare & tamen grata est illi oratio, quâ vel ipse poenitens pro se, vel aliu… pro illo o…at, ut ejus poenitentiā Deus acceptare dignetur. Decrevit etiam Deus, & promisit Ecclesiā …uā non deserere, & Concilijs legit…mè congregatis adesse: & tamen grata est Deo o…atio, & hymni, quibus ejus praese…tia, & favor, & gratia ipsi Concilio, & Ecclesiae implora…ur. Io…. Medin. de Poe…it. tra…t. 6. quaest. 6. Codicis de Oratione.God d…lighteth to be prayed unto, even for those p. 202things, which otherwise he purposed to do. For God had decreed (saith he) after the sinne of Adam to take our flesh, and he decreed the time, wherein he meant to come: and yet the prayers of the Saincts, that prayed for his Incarnation and for his comming, were acceptable unto him. God hath also decreed to grant pardon unto every repentant sinner: and yet the prayer is gratefull unto him, wherein eyther the penitent doth pray for himselfe, or another for him, that God would be pleased to accept his repentance. God hath decreed also and promised, not to forsake his Church, and to be present with Councells lawfully assembled: yet the prayer notwithstanding is gratefull unto God, and the hymnes, vvhereby his presence, and favour, and grace, is implored both for the Councell & the Church. And whereas it might be obiected, that howsoever the Church may sometimes pray for those things which shee shall certainly receive, yet shee doth not pray for those things which shee hath alreadie received; and this shee hath received, that those soules shall not be damned, seeing they have received their sentence, and are most secure from damnation: the Cardinall replieth, that this obiection may easily be avoyded. ffNam etsi animae Purgatorij jam acceperint primam sententiam in judicio particulari, eaque sententiâ liberae sint á Gehennâ: tamen adhuc superest judicium generale, in quo secundam sententiam accepturae sunt. Quocirca Ecclesia orans, ne in judicio extremo animae illae cadant in obscurum, nevé absorbeantur á tartaro, non orat pro eâ re, quam accepit, sed pro eâ quam acceptura est anima, Bellarmin. ut suprae.For although those soules (saith he) have received already their first sentence in the particular judgement, and by that sentence are freed from Hell: yet doth there yet remaine the generall judgement, in which they are to receive the second sentence. Wherefore the Church praying, that those soules in the last judgement may not fall into darkenesse, nor be swallowed up of Hel, doth not pray for the thing which the soule hath, but which it shall receive. Thus these p. 203men, labouring to shew how the prayers for the dead used in their Church may stand with their conceits of Purgatorie, doe thereby informe us how the prayers for the dead, used by the ancient Church, may stand well enough without the supposall of anie Purgatorie at all. For if we may pray for those things which wee are most sure shall come to passe; and the Church, by the Adversaries owne confession, did pray accordingly, that the soules of the faithfull might escape the paines of Hell at the generall Iudgement, notwithstanding they had certainly beene freed from them alreadie by the sentence of the particular Iudgement: by the same reason, when the Church in times past besought God to ggforeign. Liturg. Basil. & Chrysost.remember all those that slept in the hope of the resurrection of everlasting life (which is the forme of prayer used in the Greeke Liturgies) and to give unto them rest, and to bring them unto the place where the light of his countenance should shine upon them for evermore; why should not we thinke, that it desired these things should be granted unto them by the last sentence at the day of the Resurrection, notwithstanding they were formerly adiudged unto them by the particular sentence at the time of their dissolution?

For as hhQuod enim in die judicij futurū est omnibus, hoc in singulis die mortis impletur. Hieronym. in Ioel. cap. 2.Joel 2that which shall befall unto all at the day of judgement, is accomplished in every one at the day of his death: so on the other side, whatsoever befalleth the soule of everie one at the day of his death, the same is fully accomplished upon the whole man at the day of the generall iudgement. Whereupon wee finde, that the Scriptures everie where doe point out that great day unto us, as the time wherein merciemercy and forgivenesse, rest and refreshing, ioy and gladnesse, redemption and salvation, rewards and crownes shall be bestowed p. 204upon all Gods children, as in 2. Timoth. 1.16, 18. The Lord give merciemercy unto the house of Onesiphorus: the Lord grant unto him, that he may finde merciemercy of the Lord in that day. 1. Cor. 1.8. Who shall also confirme you unto the end, that ye may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ. Act. 3.19. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sinnes may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 2. Thessal. 1.6, 7. It is a righteous thing with God, to recompense unto you which are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Iesus shalbe revealed from heaven, with his mightie Angells. Philip. 2.16. That I may rejoyce in the day of Christ, that I have not runne in vaine, neyther labou…ed in vaine. 1. Thessal. 2.19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crowne of rejoycing? are not even yee in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his comming? 1. Pet. 1. …. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, readie to be revealed in the last time. 1. Corinth. 5.5. That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord I…sus. Ephes. 4.30. Grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby yee are sealed unto the day of redemption. Luk. 21.28. When these things beginne to come to passe, then looke up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. 2. Timoth. 4.8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righ…eousnesse, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day. and Luk. 14.14. Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

And that the Church in her Offices for the dead had speciall respect unto this time of the Resurrection: appeareth plainly, both by the portions of Scripture appointed to be read therein, and by diverse particulars in the prayers themselves that manifestly discover this intention. For there iiforeign. D…onys. …. Ecclesiaest. …ap. 7.the ministers (as the writer p. 205of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy reporteth) read those undoubted promises vvhichwhich are recorded in the divine Scriptures of our holy Resurrectiō: and then devoutly sang such of the sacred Psalmes as were of the same subject and argument. And so accordingly in the Romane Missall, the lessons ordained to be read for that time, are taken from 1. Corinth. 15. Behold I tell you a mysterie. Wee shall all rise againe, &c. Ioh. 5. The houre commeth wherein all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce, and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, &c. 1. Thessal. 4. Brethren, we would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleepe, that yee sorrow not, as others which have no hope. Ioh. 11. I am the resurrection and the life: he that beleeveth in me, although he were dead, shall live. 2. Maccab. 12. Iudas caused a sacrifice to be offered for the sinnes of the dead, justly and religiously thinking of the Resurrection. Ioh. 6. This is the will of my Father that sent me; that every one that seeth the Sonne, and beleeveth in him, may have life everlasting: and I will raise him up at the last day. and, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath life everlasting: and I will raise him up at the last day. and lastly, Apocal. 14. I heard a voyce from heaven, saying unto me: Write, Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord, from henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their workes follow them. Wherewith the Sequence also doth agree, beginning

kkMissal. Rom. in Commemorat, omnium fideliū defunctor,Dies irae, dies illa,

Solvet saeclum in favillâ:

Teste David cum Sibyllâ.

and ending;

Lacrymosa dies illa,

Quâ resurget ex favillâ

p. 206Iudicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce Deus.

Pie Iesu Domine,

Dona eis requiem.

Tertullian in his booke de Monogamiâ (which hee wrote after hee had beene infected with the heresie of the Montanists) speaking of the prayer of a widow for the soule of her deceased husband, saith that llEnimveró & pro animâ ejus orat, & refrigerium interim ad postulat ei, & in primâ resurrectione consortium. Tertull. de Monogam. cap. 10.she requesteth refreshing for him, and a portion in the first resurrection. Which seemeth to have some tang of the error of the Millenaries (whereunto not mmId de Resurrect. carnis, c. 25.Tertullian onelyonly with his nnId. advers. Marcion. lib. 3. cap. ult.Prophet Montanus, but ooSicut Nepos docuit, qui primam justorum resurrectionē, & secundam imp…orum confinxit. Gennad. de Ecclesiast. dogmat. cap. 55.Nepos also, and ppLactant. Institut. divin. li. 7. cap. 21.24. et 26.Lactantius, and diverse other Doctors of the Church did fall) who misunderstanding the prophecie in the 20. of the Revelation, imagined that there should be a first resurrection of the just that should raigne here a thousand yeares upon earth, and after that a second resurrection of the wicked, at the day of the general judgement. Yet in a certaine Gotthicke Missall I meet with two severall exhortations made unto the people, to pray after the selfe same forme. the one, that God would qqQuiescentiū animas in sinu Abrahae collocare dignetur, & in partem primae resurrectionis admittat. Missal. Gottic. tomo 6. Biblioth. Patr edit. Paris. an. 1589 col. 251.vouchsafe to place in the bosome of Abraham the soules of those that be at rest, and admit them unto the part of the first resurrectiō: the other (which I find elsewhere also repeated in particular) that rrDeū judicem universitatis, Deū coelestium & terrestrium & i…fernorū, fratres dilectissimi, deprecemur pro spiritibus charorum nostrorum, qui nos in …ominicâ pace praecesserunt; ut cos Dominus in requie collocare dignetur, & in parte pr…mae resurrectionis resuscitet. Ibid. col. 257. Gr…gor. Oper. tom. 5. col. 228. edit. Paris. Preces. Eccl…iast. á Georg. Cassandro …ollect. pag. 385. Operum.he would place in rest, the spirits of their friends which were gone before them in the Lords peace, and rayse them up in the part of p. 207the first resurrection. Which how it may be excused otherwise then by saying, that at the generall resurrection ss1. Thess. 4.16.1 Thess 4:16the dead in Christ shall rise fi…st, and then the wicked shall be raysed after them; and by referring the first resurrection unto the ttLuk. 14.14.Luke 14:14resurrection of the just which shall be at that day: I cannot well resolve. For certaine it is, that the first r…surrection spoken of in the 20. chapter of the Revelation of S. Iohn, is the resu…rection of the soule from the death of sinne and error in this world; as the second is the resurrection of the bodie, out of the dust of the earth, in the world to come. both whi…h be distinctly layd down by our Saviour in the fift chapter of the Gospell of S. Iohn: the first in the 25. verse; The houre is comming, and now is, when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God, and they that heare shall live. the second in the 28. and 29. Marveile not at this: for the houre is comming, in which all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation:

And to this generall resurrection and to the judgement of the last day, had the Church relation in her prayers: some patternes whereof it will not be amisse to exhibit here, in these examples following▪ uuQuamvis humano generi mortis illata conditio pectora nostra mentesque contristet; tamen clementiae tuae dono spe futurae immortalitatis erigimur, ac memores salutis aeternae, non timemus lucis hujus sustinere jacturā. quoniam beneficio gratiae tuae fidelibus vita non tollitur, sed mutatur: atque animae corporeo ergastulo liberatae, horrent mortalia, dum immortalia consequuntur Vnde quaesumus, ut famulus …uus N. in tabe…naculis beatorum constitutus, evasisse se carnales glorietur angustias, diemque iudicij cum fiduciâ voto glorificationis expectet. Pr…f…t antiqu edit. Colon. a…. 1530. num. 106. Tom. 2. Liturgi…. Pamel. pag. 608. & Tom. 5. Oper. G…egorij. edit. Paris. col. 233. Habetur & prior Praefat. huius pars in M…ssâ Ambro…ianâ, tomo 1. Liturg. Pamel. pag. 450.451. posterior in alterâ praefat. ibid. pag. 449. & Oper. Gregor. col 232 a.Although the condition of death brought in upon mankinde doth make our hearts and mindes heavy: yet by the gift of thy clemencie we are raised up with the hope of future immortalitie; and being mindfull of eternall salvation, are not p. 208afraid to sustaine the losse of this light. For by the benefite of thy grace life is not taken away to the faithful, but changed: and the soules being freed from the prison of the body, abhorre things mortall, when they attaine unto things eternall. Wherefore we beseech thee, that thy servant N. being placed in the tabernacles of the blessed, may rejoyce that he hath escaped the straytes of the flesh, and in the desire of glorification expect with confidence the day of Iudgement. xxPer Christū Dominum nostrum. Cujus sacram passionem pro immortalibus & bene quiescentibus animabus sine dubio celebramus: pro his praecipue, quibus secundae nativitatis gratiam praestitisti; qui exemplo ejusdem Iesu Christi Domini nostri coeperunt esse de resurrectione securi. Quippè qui fecisti quae non erant, potes reparare quae fuerant: & resurrectionis futurae nobis documenta non solùm per Propheticam & Apostolicam doctrinam, sed per ejusdem unigeniti tui Redemptoris nostri resurrectionem dedisti. Praesat. antiqu. 112. & 107. G…imold. Sacramentar. tom. 2. Liturg. Pamel pag 460.461 & tom. 5. Oper. Gregor. col. 235.Through Iesus Christ our Lord. whose holy passion we celebrate without doubt for immortall and well resting soules: for them especially, upon whom thou hast bestowed the grace of the second birth; who by the example of the same Iesus Christ our Lord have begunne to be secure of the resurrection. For thou vvho hast made the things that were not, art able to repaire the things that were: and hast given unto us evidences of the resurrection to come, not onelyonly by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, but also by the resurrection of the same thy onelyonly begotten Sonne our Redeemer. yyDeus, qui universorū es Creator & conditor, quique tuorum es beatitudo Sanctorum; praesta nobis petentibus, ut spiritum fratris nostri corporis nexibus absolutum in beatâ resurrectione facias praesentari. Prec. Ecclesiast Cassandr. Oper. pag. 385. Tom. 5. Gregor. col. 228 e.O God, who art the Creator and maker of all things, and vvho art the blisse of thy Saincts; grant unto us who make request unto thee, that the spirit of our brother, who is loosed from the knott of his body, may bee presented in the blessed resurrection of thy Saincts. zzOmnipotens & misericors Deus, tuam deprecamur. clementiam, quia judicio tuo & nascimur & finimur; ut animam fratris nostri, quem tua pietas de incolatu hujus mundi transue praecepit, in requiem aeternam suscipias, & in consortio electorum tuorum in resurrectione sociari permittas, ut in aeternâ beatitudine unâ cum illis sine fine permaneat. Alcuin. Offic. per f…rias, Oper. pag. 230.231. collat. cum simili, tomo 5. Gregor, col. 228. c. d. & in Operib. Cassandr. pag. 385.O almightie and mercifull God, vve doe intreat p. 209thy clemency, forasmuch as by thy judgement we are borne and make an end; that thou wilt receive into everlasting rest the soule of our brother, whom thou of thy piety hast commanded to passe from the dwelling of this world, and permit him to be associated with the company of thine elect, that together with them he may remaine in everlasting blisse without end. aaAeterne Deus, qui nobis in Christo unigenito filio tuo Domino nostro spem beatae Resurrectionis concessist…; praesta, quaesumus, ut animae, pro quibus hoc sacrificium redemptionis nostrae tuae offerimus majestati, ad beatae resurrectionis requiem, te miserante, cum sanctis tuis pervenire mereantur. Praefat. antiqu. 110. edit. Colon. an. 1530. Tom. 2. Liturg. Pamelij pag. 609. Tom. 5. Gr…gor. col. 236. e.Eternall God, vvho in Christ thine only begotten sonne our Lord hast given unto us the hope of a blessed Resurrection; grant, we beseech thee, that the soules, for which we offer this sacrifice of our redemption unto thy Majestie, may of thy mercy attaine unto the rest of a blessed resurrection with thy Saincts. bbHaec nos communio, quaesumus Domine, purget á crimine: & animae famuli tui N. coelestis gaudij tribuat consortium, ut ante thronum gloriae Christi tui segregata cum dextris, nihil commune habeat cum sinistris. Tom. 5 Gregor. col 33. c.Let this communion, we beseech thee O Lord, purge us from sinne; and give unto the soule of thy servant N. a portion in the heavenly joy, that being set apart before the throne of the glory of thy Christ with those that are upon the right hand, it may have nothing common with those that are upon the left. ccPer Christum Dominum nostrum. In cujus adventu, cùm geminam jusseris sist…re plebem, jubeas et famulum tuum á numero discerni malorum. Quem unâ tribuas poenae aeternae evadere flammas, & justae potiùs adipisci praemia vitae. &c. Offic. Ambrosian. tomo 1. Liturgic. Pamel pag 450.Through Christ our Lord. At whose comming, when thou shalt command both the peoples to appeare, command thy servant also to be severed from the number of the evill. and grant unto him, that he may both escape the flames of everlasting punishment, and obtaine the rewards of a righteous life. &c.

In these, and other prayers of the like kind, we may descry evident footsteps of the primarie intention of the Church in her supplications for the dead: which was, that the whole man (not the soule separated only) might receive publick remission of sinnes, & a solemne p. 210acquitall in the judgement of that great day; and so obtaine both a full escape from all the consequences of sinne (dd1. Cor. 15.26, 34.1 Cor 15:261 Cor 15:34 the last enemie being now destroyed, and death swallowed up in victory) and a perfect consummation of blisse and happinesse. all which are comprised in that short prayer of S. Paul for Onesiphorus (though made for him while he was alive:) ee2. Tim. 1.18.2 Tim 1:18The Lord grant unto him, that he may finde merciemercy of the Lord in that day. Yea diverse prayers for the dead of this kinde are still retained in the Romane Offices: of which the great Spanish Doctor Iohannes Medina thus writeth. ffEtsi quamplures orationes fidelium defunctorum legerim, quae in Missali Romano continentur; in nullâ tamen earum legi, per Ecclesiam pe…i, ut citiùs á poenis liberentur: legi tamē in nonnullis peti, ut, ab aeternis poenis liberentur. Io. Medin. in Codice de Oratione, quaest. 6.Although I have read manie prayers for the faithfull deceased, which are contayned in the Romane Missall; yet have I read in none of them, that the Church doth petition, that they may more quickly be freed from paines: but I have read that in some of them petition is made, that they may be freed from everlasting paines. For beside the common prayer that is used in the Masse for the Commemoration of all the faithfull deceased, that Christ would free them from the mouth of the Lion, that Hell may not swallow them up, and that they may not fall into the place of darknesse: this prayer is prescribed for the day wherin the dead did depart out of this life. ggDeus, cui propriū est misereri semper & parcere; te supplices exoramus pro animâ famuli tui N. quam hodie de hoc seculo migrare jussisti: ut non tradas eam in manus inimici, neque obliviscaris in finem; sed jubeas eam á sanctis Angelis suscipi, & ad patriam paradisi perduci: ut qu…a in te speravit & credidit, non poenas inferm sustineat, sed gaudia aeterna possideat. Orat. in die obitus s…u d…positionis …efuncti: in Missali Romano reformato.O God, vvhose propertie is alwayes to have merciemercy and to spare; vve most humbly beseech thee for the soule of thy servant N. which this day thou hast commanded to depart out of this world: that thou mayst not deliver it into the hands of the enemy, nor forget it finally; but command it to be received by the holy Angels, and brought unto the country of Paradise: that because he hath trusted and beleeved in thee, he may p. 211not sustain the paines of Hell, but possesse joyes everlasting. which is a direct prayer, that the soule of him which was then departed might immediatly be received into Heaven, and escape not the temporarie paines of Purgatorie, but the everlasting paines of Hell. for howsoever the new reformers of the Romane Missall have put in here poenas inferni (under the generalitie peradventure of the terme of the paines of hell intending to shrowde their Purgatorie, which they would have men beleeve to be one of the lodges of Hell) yet in the hhMissal. Rom. edit. Paris. an. 1529.old Missall, which Medina had respect unto, we reade expressely poenas aeternas, everlasting paines; which by no construction can be referred unto the paines of Purgatorie. and to the same purpose, in the book of the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome, at the exequies of a Cardinall, a prayer is appointed to be read; that by the assistance of Gods grace he might iiGratiâ tuâ illi succurrente, mereatur judicium evadere ultionis aeternae, qui dum víveret insignitus est signaculo sanctae Trinitatis Lib. 1. sacr. Ceremoniar. Rom. Eccles sect. 15. ca. 1. fol. 152. b. edit. Colon. an. 1574.escape the judgement of everlasting revenge, who while he lived was marked with the seale of the holy Trinity.

Againe, kkSunt aliae orationes, in quibus petitur, ut Deus animas defunctorū in corporibus ad beatitudinem in die judicii suscitet Io. Medin. ut suprà.there be other prayers (saith Medina) wherein petition is made, that God would raise the soules of the dead in their bodies unto blisse at the day of judgement. Such, for example, is that which is found in the Romane Missall. llAbsolve, quaesumus Domine, animam famuli tui ab omni vinculo delictorum: ut in resurrectionis gloriâ, inter sanctos & electos tuos resuscitatus respiret. Orat. p…o d…funct. in Missali Ro…ano, v…tere & novo. nec non in Gregorij Sacramentario, tom. 2. Liturgic. Pam…lij, …ag. 386. & tom. 5. oper. Gregor edi…. Paris. col. 229, 230. Similis etiam oratiuncula habetur in G…egorij Antiphonario, pag. 175. Pamel…, col. 62. ed…. Paris Erue Domine animas eorum ab omni vinculo delictorum: ut in resurrectionis gloriâ inter sanctos tuos resuscitari mereantur.Absolve, vvee beseech thee O Lord, the soule of thy servant from all the bond of his sinnes: that in the glory of the resurrection, being raysed among thy saincts and elect, hee may breath againe, or bee refreshed. p. 212and that other in the Romane Pontificall. mmDeus, cui omnia vivunt, & cui non pereunt moriendo corpora nostra, sed mutantur in melius; te supplices deprecamur, ut suscipi jubeas animā famuli tui N. per manus sanctorum Angelorū tuorū deducēdā in sinū amici tui Abrahae Patriarchae, resuscitandamque in novissimo judicij magni die: & quicquid vitiorum, Diabolo fallente, contraxit, tu pius & misericors abluas indulgendo. Pontifical. Roman. Clem. VIII. iussu edit. Romae an. 1595. pag. 685. & Venet. an. 1572. fol. 226. col. 4. Lib. 1. sacr. Ceremon. Rom. Eccles. sect. 15. ca. 1. fol. 153 b. edit. Colon. Tom. 5. Oper. Gregorij, col. 227. edit. Paris. Prec. …cclesiastic. á G. Cassandro edit. pag 384. Operum.O God, unto whom all things doe live, and unto whom our bodies in dying do not perish, but are changed for the better; we humbly pray thee, that thou wouldest command the soule of thy servant N. to be received by the hands of thy holy Angells, to be carried into the bosome of thy friend the Patriarch Abraham, and to be raysed up at the last day of the great judgement: & whatsoever faults by the deceit of the Divel he hath incurred, do thou of thy pitie and mercy wash away by forgiving them. Now forasmuch as it is most certaine, that all such as depart in grace (as the Adversaries acknowledge that all in Purgatorie doe) are sure to escape Hell, and to be raysed up unto glorie at the last day: Medina perplexeth himselfe exceedingly in according these kinde of praiers with the received grounds of Purgatorie; and after much agitation of the businesse too and fro, at last resolveth upon one of these two desperate conclusions. that touching these nnRespondetur, quantum ad orationes quae pro defunctis in Ecclesiâ fiunt, posse primò dici, non esse necessarium omnes eas ab omni ineptitudine excusare. Multa enim in Ecclesiâ legi permittuntur, quae quamvis non omnino vera sint, vel omnino apta, conferunt tamen ad fideliū devotionē excitandam & augendam. Talia multa credendū est contineri in historijs non sacris, & in Legēdis Sanctorū, & in opinionibus Doctorū, & Scripturis, quae omnia tolerantur in Ecclesiâ interim, dum super illis nulla movetur quaestio, nullum que insurgit scandalum. Ac proinde non mirum, in orationibus praedictis aliquid minùs aptum contineri, & ab Ecclesiâ tolerari: cùm tales orationes factae sint á personis privatis, non á Concilijs, nec per Concilia omnino sint approbatae. Io. Medin. ut supr.praiers which are made in the Church for the dead, it may first of all be said, that it is not necessary to excuse them all from all unfitnesse. For many things are permitted to be read in the Church, which although they be not altogether true, nor altogether fit, yet serve for the stirring up and increasing the devotion of the faithfull. Many such things p. 213(saith he) we beleeve are contayned in the histories that be not sacred, and in the Legends of the Saincts, and in the opinions and writings of the Doctors: all which are tolerated by the Church in the meane time, while there is no question moved of them, and no scandall ariseth from them. And therefore it is no marvaile, that somewhat not so fitt should be contayned in the foresaid prayers, and be tolerated in the Church: seeing such prayers were made by private persons, not by Councells, neyther vvere approved at all by Councells.

And we easily doe beleeve indeed, that their Offices and Legends are fraught not only with untrue and unfit, but also with farre worse stuffe: neyther is this any newes unto us. Agobardus Bishop of Lions complayned about 800. yeares agoe, that the Antiphonary used in his Church had ooMulta ridiculosa et phantastica. Agobard. ad Cantores Iugdunens de Correct. Antiphonarij, pag. 396. edit. Paris.many ridiculous and phantasticall things in it: and that hee was faine ppHâc de causâ & Antiphonarium pro viribus nostris magnâ ex parte correximus: amputatis his, quae vel superflua, vel levia, vel mendacia, aut blasphema videbantur. Id. ibid. pag. 392.to cut off from thence such things as seemed to be eyther superfluous, or light, or lying, or blasphemous. The like complaint was made not long since by Lindanus, of the Romane Antiphonaries and Missals: qqVbi non apocrypha modó ex Euang. Nicodemi & aliis nugis sunt infarta; sed ipsae adeò secretae preces (imo ipse, prò pudor & dolor, Canon & varians & redundans) sunt mendis turpissimis conspurcatae. Wil. Lindan de opt. gen. interpr. script. lib. 3. ca. 3.wherein not only apocryphall tales (saith he) out of the Gospell of Nicodemus and other toyes are thrust in; but the very secret prayers themselves are defiled with most foule faults. But now that wee have the rrMissale Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum, Pij V. Pont. Max jussu editum, & Clementis VIII. auctoritate recognitum. Rom. an. 1604. Paris. 1605.Romane Missall restored according to the decree of the Councell of Trent, set out by the command of Pius V. and revised againe by the authoritie of Clemens VIII. I doubt much whether our Romanists will allow the Censure which their Medina hath given of the praiers contained therein. And therefore if this will not please p. 214them, he hath another answer in store: of which though his country man ssAlphons. Mendoz. Controvers. Theologic. quaest. 6. scholastic. num. 5.Mendoza hath given sentence, that it is indigna viro Theologo, unworthy of any man that beareth the name of a Divine; yet such as it is, you shall have it. Supposing then, that the Church hath no intention to pray for anie other of the dead, but those that are detayned in Purgatorie: this he delivereth for his second resolution. ttSciens Ecclesia Deum potestatem habere puniendi aeternaliter animas illas, per quas, cùm viverent, fuerat mortaliter offensus; quod que Deus potestatē suam non alligaverit Scripturis, & promissis quae in Scripturâ con…inentur; quan…oquidem ipse super omnia est, & tam omnipotens post promissa, acsi nil promisisset: ideò Ecclesia simpliciter Deum orat, ne illâ absolutâ omnipotentiâ contra animas fidelium, qui in gratiâ decesserunt, utatur; ideò orat, ut eas ab aeternis poenis, & á vindictâ, & judicio condemnationis liberare, & ut eas cum suis electis resuscitare, dignetur. Io. Medina, ut supr.The Church knowing that God hath power to punish everlastingly those soules, by which, when they lived, he was mortally offended; and that God hath not tyed his power unto the Scriptures, and unto the promises that are contayned in the Scripture (forasmuch as he is above all things, and a… omnipotent after his promises, as if he had promised nothing at all:) therefore the Church doth humbly pray God, that he would not use this his absolute omnipotencie against the soules of the faithfull, which are departed in grace; therefore shee doth pray that he would vouchsafe to free them from everlasting paines, and from revenge and the judgement of condemnation, and that he would be pleased to rayse them up againe with his Elect. But leaving our Popish Doctors with their profound speculations of the not limiting of Gods power by the Scriptures, and the promises which he hath made unto us therein: let us returne to the ancient Fathers, and consider the differences that are to be found among them touching the place and condition of soules separated from their bodies. for according to the several apprehensions which they had thereof, they made different applications and interpretations of the use of praying for the dead: whose particular intentions and devotions in that kinde, must of p. 215necessity therefore be distinguished from the generall intention of the whole Church.

S. Augustine (that I may begin with him who was, as the most ingenious, so likewise the most ingenuous of all others in acknowledging his ignorance where hee saw cause) being to treat of these matters, maketh this Preface before hand unto his hearers. uuInfernum nec ego expertus sum ad…uc nec vos: & fo…tassis alia via erit, & non per i…fe…num erit. Incerta sunt enim haec. Augustin. in Psal. 85.Ps 85Of Hell neyther have I had any experience as yet, nor you: and peradventure it may be, that our passage may lye some other way, and not prove to be by Hell. For these things be uncertain. and having occasion to speake of the departure of Nebridius his deare friend: xxNunc ille vivit in sinu Abraham, quicquid illud est quod illo significatur sinu; ibi Nebridius meus vivit. Id. Confession. lib. 9. cap. 3.Now he liveth, saith he, in the bosome of Abraham, whatsoever the thing be that is signified by that bosome; there doth my Nebridius live. But elsewhere he directly distinguisheth this bosome from the place of blisse into which the. Saincts shall be received after the last judgement. yyPost vitam istam parvam nondum eris ubi erunt Sancti quibus dicetur; Venite benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum quod vobis paratum est ab initio mundi. Nondum ibi eris: quis nescit? Sed jam poteris ibi esse, ubi illum quondam ulcerosum pauperem dives ille superbus & sterilis in medijs suis tormentis vidit à longe requiescentem. In illâ requie positus, certé securus expectas judicii diem; quando recipias & corpus, quando immuteris ut angelo aequeris. Id. in Psalm. 36. conc. 1.Ps 36After this short life (saith he) thou shalt not as yet be where the Saincts shall be unto whom it shall be said; Come ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdome which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Thou shalt not as yet be there: who knoweth it not? But now thou mayest be there, where that proude and barren rich man in the middest of his torments saw a farre off the poore man, sometime full of ulcers, resting. Being placed in that rest, thou dost securely expect the day of judgement; when thou mayest receive thy body, when thou mayest be changed to be equall unto an Angell. and for the state of soules, betwixt the time of the particular and generall judgement, this is his conclusion p. 216in generall. zzTempus au…em quod inter h…minis mortem & ultimam resurrectionem inter positum est, animas abditis receptaculis continet; sicut unaquae que digna est vel requie vel aerumnâ, pro eo quod sortita est in carne cùm viveret. Id. Enchirid. ad Laurent. …ap. 108.The time that is interposed betwixt the death of man and the last resurrection, contayneth the soules in hidden receptacles; as every one is worthy eyther of rest or of trouble, according unto that which it did purchase in the flesh when it lived. Into these hidden receptacles he thought the soules of Gods children might carry some of their lighter faults with them: which being not removed, would hinder them from comming into the kingdome of heaven (whereinto no polluted thing can enter) and from which by the prayers and almes-deeds of the living he held they might be released. But of two things he professed himselfe here to be ignorant. First, aaSed quis iste sit modus, & quae sint ipsa peccata, quae ita impediunt perventionem ad regnū Dei, ut tamen sanctorum amicorum meritis impetrent indulgentiam; difficilimum est invenire, periculosissimū definire. Ego certé usque ad hoc tempus, cùm inde satagerem, ad eorū indaginem pervenire non potui. Id. lib. 21. de Civit. Dei, cap. 27.What those sinnes were, which did so hinder the comming unto the kingdome of God, that yet by the care of good friends they might obtaine pardon. Secondly, bbSee before, pag. 173.Whether those soules did endure anie temporary paines in the Interim betwixt the time of Death and the Resurrection. For howsoever in his one and twentieth book of the City of God, and the thirteenth and sixteenth chapters (for the new patch which they have added to the foure and twentieth chapter is not worthy of regard) he affirme, that some of them doe suffer certaine purgatorie punishments before the last and dreadfull judgment: yet by comparing these places with the ccEx his quae dicta sunt videtur evidentiùs apparere, in illo judicio quasdam quorundam purgatorias poenas futuras. &c. Verùm ista quaestio de purgatorijs poenis, ut diligentiùs pertractetur, in tempus aliud differenda est. nempe, ubi ad librum 21. perventum fu…rit.five and twentieth chapter of the twentieth booke, it will appeare, that by those purgatory punishments he understandeth here the furnace of the fire of Conflagration, that shall immediatly go before this last judgement, and (as p. 217he otherwhere describeth the effects thereof) ddHoc aget caminus: alios in sinistram separabit, alios in dexteram quodammodo eliquabit. Aug. in Psalm. 103. conc. 3.Ps 103separate some unto the left hand, and melt out others unto the right.

Neither was this opinion of the reservation of soules in secret places, and the purging of them in the fire of Conflagration at the day of iudgement, entertained by this famous Doctor alone: diverse others there were that had touched upon the same string before him. Origen in his fourth book foreign, as we have him translated by Ruffinus (for in the eeforeign. Origenis Philocalia cap. 1.Extracts selected out of him by S. Basil and S. Gregory wee finde the place somewhat otherwise expressed) saith that ffDe hoc mundo secundùm communem mortem istam recedentes, pro actibus suis & meritis dispensantur prout digni fuerint judicati; alii quidem in locum qui dicitur Infernus, alij in sinum Abrahae, & per diversa quae que vel loca, vel mansiones. Origen. de Principijs lib. 4. cap. 2. cum quo conferendus similis eiusdem locus in Numer. 31. homil 26.such as depart out of this world after the common course of death, are disposed of according to their deeds and merits, as they shalbe judged to be worthy; some into the place which is called Hell, others into Abrahams bosome, and through diverse eyther places or mansions. and in his Commentaries upon Leviticus, hee addeth further. ggNondum receperunt laetitiam suam, ne Apostoli quidem; sed & ipsi expectant, ut & ego laetitiae eorum particeps fiam. Neque enim decedentes hinc Sancti, continuò integra meritorum suorum proemia consequuntur; sed expectant etiam nos licèt morantes, licèt desides. Jd. hom. 7. in Levit. cap. 10.Lev 10Neyther have the Apostles themselves as yet received their joy; but even they doe expect, that I also may be made partaker of their joy. For the Saincts departing from hence doe not presently obtaine the full rewards of their labours; but they expect us likewise, howsoever staying, howsoever slacking. Then touching the purging of men after the Resurrection, he thus delivereth his minde in his Commentaries upon Luke. hhEgo puto, quòd & post resurrectionem ex mortuis indigeamus sacramento eluente nos at que purgante: nemo enim absque sordibus resurgere poterit. Id. in Luc. homil. 14.I thinke, that even after our resurrection from the dead we shall have need of a p. 218sacrament to wash and purge us: for none can rise without pollutions. and upon Ieremy: iiSi quis in secundâ resurrectione servatur, iste peccator est qui ignis indiget baptismo; qui combustione purgatur, ut quicquid habuerit lignorū, foeni, & stipulae, ignis consumat. Id. in Ierem. homil. 13.If any one be saved in the second resurrection, he is that sinner vvhichwhich needeth the baptisme of fire, which is purged with burning; that whatsoever he hath of wood, hay, and stubble, the fire may consume it. Neither doth Lactantius shew himselfe to varie much from him, in eyther of those points; for thus he writeth. kkSed & justos cùm judicaverit, etiam igni eos examinabit. Tum quorum peccata vel pondere vel numero praevaluerint, perstringentur igni, atque amburentur: quos autem plena justitia & maturitas virtutis incoxe…it, ignem illum non sentient. habent enim in se aliquid inde, quod vim flammae repellat ac respuat. Tanta est vis innocentiae, ut ab eâ ignis ille refugiat innoxius, qui accepit á Deo hanc potestatem. ur impios urat, just…s obtemperet. Nec tamen quisquam putet, animas post mortem protinùs judicari. Omnes in unâ, communique custodiâ detinentur, donec tempus adveniat, quo maximus Iudex meritorum faciat examen. Lactant. institut. divin. lib. 7. cap. 21.When God shall judge the righteous, he will examine them by fire. Then they whose sinnes shall prevaile eyther in weight or number, shall be touched with the fire and burned: but they whom perfect righteousnesse and the ripenesse of vertue hath throughly seasoned, shall not feele that fire. for from thence have they something in them, that will repell & put back the force of the flame: so great is the force of innocency, that that fire shall flye back from it without doing anie harme, vvhichwhich hath received this power from God, that it may burne the wicked and do service to the righteous. Yet notwithstanding let no man thinke, that the soules are presently judged after death. All of them are detayned in one common custodie, untill the time come, wherein the great Iudge doth make tryall of their doings. In like maner doth S. Hilary write of the one part. llExeuntes de corpore, ad introitum illum regni coelestis, per custodiam Domini fideles omnes reservabuntur, in sinu scilicèt interim Abrahae collocati: quò adire impios interjectū chaos inhibet, quous que introeundi iursum in regnū coelorum tempus adveniat. Hilar. in Psal. 120.Ps 120All the faithfull, when they are gone out of the bodie, shall be reserved by the Lords custodie for that entry into the heavenly kingdome, being in the meane time placed in the bosome of Abraham; whither the wicked are hindred from comming, by the gulfe interposed betwixt them, untill the p. 219time of entring into the kingdome of heaven doe come. and thus of the other. mmAn cùm ex omni otioso verbo rationē simus praestituri, diem judicii concupiscemus, …n quo nobis est ille i… defessus ignis obeundus, in quo subeunda sunt gravia illa expiandae á peccatis animae supplicia? Id. in Psal. 118. octonar. 3.Ps 118Being to render an account of every idle word, shall we desire the day of judgement, wherein that unwearied fire must be passed by us, in which those grievous punishments for expiating the soule from sinnes must be endured? for nnSalutis igitur nostrae & judicii tempus designat in Domino dieens; Illé baptizabit vo… in Spiritu sancto & igni: quia baptizatis in Spiritu sancto, reliquum sit consummari igne judicii. Id. in Ma…h. canon. 2.to such as have beene baptized with the holy Ghost, it remaineth that they should be consummated with the fire of judgement.

In S. Ambrose also there are some passages to bee found which seeme to make directly for either of these points: as these for the former. ooSolvitur corpore anima, & post finem vitae hujus, adhuc tamen futuri judicii ambiguo suspenditur. Ita finis nullus, ubi finis putatur. Ambr. de Cain & Abel, lib. 2. cap. 2.The soule is loosed from the body, and yet after the end of this life it is held as yet in suspence with the uncertainty of the future judgement: so that there is no end, where there is thought to be an end. ppSiquidem & in Esdrae libris legimus; quia cùm venerit judicii dies, reddet terra defunctorum corpora, & pulvis reddet eas quae in tumulis requiescunt reliquias mortuorum. Et habitacula, inquit, reddent animas quae his commendatae sunt: & revelabitur altissimus super sedem judicii. Ambros. de bono mortis, cap. 10. ex 4. Esdr. 7.32, 33.We reade in the books of Esdras; that when the day of judgement shall come, the earth shall restore the bodies of the deceased, and the dust shall restore the reliques of the dead which doe rest in the graves: and the habitacles shall restore the soules which were committed to them; and the most high shall be revealed upon the seat of judgement. qqDenique & scriptura habitacula illa animarum promptuaria nuncupavit: quae occurrens querelae humanae, eo quòd justi qui praecesserunt videantur usque ad judicii diem, per plurimum scilicèt temporis, debitâ sibi remuneratione fraudari; mirabiliter ait Coronae esse similem judicii diem, in quo sicut novissimorum tarditas, sic non priorum velocitas. Coronae enim dies expectatur ab omnibus; ut intra eum diem & victi erubescant, & victores palmam adipiscantur victoriae. Id. ibid. …u 4. Esdr. 4.35. & 5.41, 42.Also that scripture nameth those habitacles of the soules, Promptuaries (or secret receptacles:) and meeting with the complaint of man, that the just which have gone before may seeme to be defrauded (untill the day of p. 220judgement, which is a very long time) of the reward due unto them; saith wonderfully, that the day of judgement is like unto a crowne, wherein as there is no slackenesse of the last, so is there no swiftnesse of the first. For the day of crowning is expected by all; that vvithin that day both they who are overcome may be ashamed, and they who doe overcome may obtaine the palme of victory. rrErgo dum expectatur plenitudo temporis, expectant animae remunerationem debitam. Alias manet poena, alias gloria: & tamen nec illae interim sine injuriâ, nec istae sine fructu sunt. Ibid.Therefore while the fulnesse of time is expected, the soules expect their due reward. Paine is provided for some of them, for some glory: and yet in the meane time neither are those without trouble, nor these without fruite. and these for the latter. ssIgne ergo purgabuntur filij Levi, igne Ezechiel, igne Daniel. Sed hi etsi per ignē examinabuntur, dicent tamen: T…ansivimus per ignē & aquam. Alij in igne remanebunt. Id. in Psalm. 36.Ps 36With fire shall the sonnes of Levi be purged, with fire Ezechiel, with fire Daniel. But these, although they shall be tryed with fire, yet shall say: We have passed through fire and water. Others shall remaine in the fire. ttEt si salvos faciet Dominus servos suos; salvi erimus per fidem, sic tamen salvi quasi per ignem. Etsi non exuremur, tamen uremur. Id. ibid.And if the Lord shall save his servants, we shall be saved by faith, yet saved as it were by fire. Although we shall not be burned up, yet shall we be burned. uuSiquidem post consummationem seculi, missis angelis qui segregent bonos & malos, hoc futurum est baptisma; quando per caminū ignis iniquitas exuretur, ut in regno Dei fulgeant justi sicut Sol in regno patris sui. Et si aliquis ut Petrus sit, ut Ioannes, baptizatur hoc igni Id in Psalm. 118. serm 3.Ps 118After the end of the vvorld, when the Angells shall be sent to separate the good and the bad, this baptisme shall be; when iniquitie shalbe burnt up by the furnace of fire, that in the kingdome of God the righteous may shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of their Father. And if any one be as Peter, or as Iohn, he is baptized with this fire. Seeing therefore xxSed quia hîc purgatus, iterùm necesse habet illic purificari: illic quoque nos purificet, quando dicat Dominus; Intrate in requiem meam. ut unu…quis que nostrûm ustus romphaeâ illâ fiammeâ non exustus, introgrestus in illam paradisi amoenitatem, gratias agat domino suo, dicens: Induxisti nos in ref…igerium Id. ibid. Vid. & scim. 20. i… cund. Psal. 118.Ps 118he that is purged here, hath need to be purged again there: let him purge us there also, when the Lord may say; Enter into my rest. that every p. 221one of us being burned with that flaming sword, not burned up, when he is entred into that pleasure of Paradise may give thankes unto his Lord, saying: Thou hast brought us into a place of refreshment.

Hereunto wee may adjoine that observation of Suarez the Iesuite. yyQui opinantur, animas hominum non judicari in morte, nec proemiū aut poenam recipere, sed reservari in abditis receptaculis usque ad judicium universale; consequenter dicunt, sicut non accipiunt homines ultimum proemium vel poenam, ita ne que etiam purgari, donec sit facta generalis Resurrectio, & Iudicium: ex quo satis consequenter dice…e potuerunt, purgandos esse homines igne conflagrationis. Fr. Suarez, in 3 part Thom. quaest. 9 a…t. 6. d…sput. 57. sect. 1.They who thinke, that the soules of men are not judged at their death, nor do receive reward or punishment, but are reserved in hidden receptacles untill the generall judgement; doe consequently say, that as men do not receive their last reward or punishment, so neyther are they also purged, untill the generall Resurrection and Iudgement do come: from vvhence they might say vvith reasonable good consequence, that men are to be purged with the fire of Conflagration. and with as good consequence also (may we further adde) that prayers were not to be made for the deliverie of the soules of the dead from any purgatorie paines, supposed to be suffered by them betwixt the time of their death and their resurrection; which be the only praiers which are now in question. zzforeign. Gregor. Ceram. h…mil. in Indictionis sive novi anni principium.In the Resurrection, when our workes, like unto clusters of grapes, shall be cast into the probatory fire as it were into the wine-presse; every mans husbandry shall be made manifest: saith Gregorius Cerameus, sometime archbishop of Tauromenium in Sicilia. and, aaforeign. Anastas. Sinait. (al. N…can.) quaest. 91.No man as yet is entred eyther into the torments of Hell or into the kingdome of Heaven, untill the time of the resurrection of the bodies: saith Anastasius Sinaita upon whom Gretser bestoweth this marginall annotation: that this is the bbError veterum quorundam, & recentioris Graeciae. Grets…r. ibid. in marg. pag. 501. edit. Ing…lstad.Error of certain of the ancient, & of latter Greece. p. 222And we finde it to be held indeed both by some of the ancient (as namely in Caius, who lived at Rome when Zephyrinus was Bishop there, and is accounted to be the author of the treatise falsely fathered upon Iosephus, foreign, a large fragment whereof hath beene lately published by Hoeschelius in his notes upon Photius his Bibliotheke:) and by the latter Grecians; in whose name, Marcus Eugenicus archbishop of Ephesus, doth make this protestation against such of his countrymen as yeelded to the definition of the Florentine Councell. ccforeign. Marc. Ephesius, in Epistolâ Encyclicâ contra Concil Florentin. Vid. & Gennadium Scholarium, in Defens. Concil. Florentin. cap. 3. sect. 2.We say, that neither the Saincts do receive the kingdome prepared for them and those secret good things, neyther the sinners doe as yet fall into Hell: but that eyther of them doe remaine in expectation of their proper lott; and that this appertayneth unto the time that is to come after the Resurrection and the Iudgement. But these men, with the Latines, would have these to receive presently after death the things they have deserved: but unto those of the middle sort, that is, to such as dye in penance, they assigne a purgatory fire (which they faine to be distinct from that of Hell) that thereby, say they, being purged in their soules after death, they likewise may be received into the kingdome of heaven together vvith the righteous.

That barbarous impostor (as ddIo. Molan. histor. Imag. lib. 3. cap 36.Molanus rightly styleth him) who counterfeyted a letter, as written by S. Cyrill Bishop of Ierusalem unto S. Augustin, touching the miracles of S. Hierome, taketh upon him to lay down the precise time of the first arising of this sect p. 223among the Grecians in this maner. eePostobitu… gloriosissimi Hieronymi, qua…dam haeresis inter Graecos, id est, secta surrexit, quae ad Latinos usque devenit, quae suis nefandis nitebatur rationibus probare: quòd animae beatorū us que ad universalis judicii diē, in quo eorum corporibus erant iterum conjungendae, visione & cognitione divinâ, in quâ tota constitit beatitudo sanctorū, privabuntur; & damnatorū animae similiter ad diem illum nullis cruciabuntur poenis. Quorum ratio talis erat; Sicut anima cum corpore meruit vel peccavit, ita cum corpore recipit proemia sive poenas. Asserebant etiam illius sectae nequissimi, nullum fore purgatorij locum in que animae, quae nondum de suis peccatis in mundo plenam egissent poenitentiam, purgarentur. Quâ quidem sectaâ pestiferâ crebrescente, tantus in nos dolor irruit, ut nos ampliùs pigeret vivere. Pseudo-Cyrillus, tom. 2. operum Augustini, epist 206. & sub finem tomi 4. operum Hieronymi edit. Basil. vel 9. ut á Mariano Victorio …omi sunt dispositi.After the death of most glorious Hierome, a certaine heresie or sect arose amongst the Grecians, and came to the Latines also, which went about with their wicked reasons to prove: that the soules of the blessed untill the day of the generall Iudgment, wherein they were to be joyned againe unto their bodies, are deprived of the sight and knowledge of God, in which the whole blessednesse of the Saincts doth consist; and that the soules of the damned in like maner untill that day are tormented with no paines. Whose reason was this: that as the soule did merit or sinne with the body; so with the bodie was it to receive rewards or paines. Those wicked sectaries also did maintaine, that there was no place of Purgatory wherein the soules, vvhichwhich had not done full penance for their sinnes in this world, might be purged. Which pestilent sect getting head, so great sorrow fell upon us, that we were even weary of our life. Then he telleth a wise tale, how S. Hierome, being at that time with God, for the confutation of this new-sprong heresie, raysed up three men from the dead (after that hee had first ffNam (ut mihi postmodùm interroganti dixerunt) beatus Hieronymus eos conduxerat secum in Paradisum, Purgatorium, & Infernum: ut quae ibi agebantur, patefacerent universis. Ibid.ledd their soules into Paradise, Purgatory, and Hell; to the end they might make known unto all men the things that were done there:) but had not the witt to consider, that S. Cyrill himselfe had need to be raysed up, to make the fourth man among them. for how otherwise should he, who dyed thirtie yeares before S. Hierome (as is knowne to every one that knoweth the history of those p. 224times) have heard and written the newes which those three good fellowes, that were raised by S. Hierome after his death, did relate concerning Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory? Yet is it nothing so strange to me (I confesse) that such idle dreames as these should be devised in the times of darknesse, to delude the world withall: as that now in the broad day light, gg…i…sfeld. de condition animr. post mortē, sect 5.Binsfeldius and hhFran. Suarez in 3 part. Thom. tom 4. disput. 45. sect. 1. num. 1.Suarez, and other Romish merchants should adventure to bring forth such rotten stuffe as this, with hope to gaine anie credite of antiquitie thereby unto the new erected staple of Popish Purgatory.

The Dominican Friars, in a certaine treatise written by them at Constantinople in the yeare 1252. assigne somewhat a lower beginning unto this error of the Grecians: affirming that they iiSequentes quendā hujus haereseos invē to…em Archiepiscopū quondam Caesareae Cappadociae, Andream nomine; qui dicit, propria corpora praestolari, ut cum cis, cum quibus bona vel mala cōmiserint, retributiones similiter factorū recipiant. Tractat. contra Graecos: in tomo auctorum á Petro Steuartio edit. Ingelstad. an. 1616. pag. 562.followed therein a certain inventer of this heresie named Andrew, Archbishop sometime of Caesarea in Cappadocia; who said, that the soules did wayt for their bodies, that together with them, with which they had committed good or evill, they might likewise receave the recompense of their deeds. But that which Andrew saith herein, he saith not out of his own head; (and therefore is wrongfully charged to be the first inventer of it:) but out of the judgement of many godly fathers that went before him. kkforeign. Andr. Caesar. cap. 17. commentar. in Apocalyps.It hath been said (saith he) by many of the Saincts, that all vertuous men (after this life) do receive places fit for them; whence they may certainly make conjecture of the glory that shall befall unto them. Where Peltanus bestoweth such another marginall note upon him, as Gretser his fellow-Iesuite did upon Anastasius. llHaec sententia diserté est jam condemnata; & ab Ecclesiâ proscripta. Theod. Peltan. ad marginem Latinae sua versionis.This opinion is now expressely condemned, p. 225and rejected by the Church. And yet doth Alphonsus de Castro aknowledge, that mmSunt adhuc alij hujus erroris patroni, viri quidem illustres, sanctitate perinde ac scientiâ clari: Irenaeus videlicèt beatissunus pro Christo martyr, Theophylactus Bulgariae episcopus, beatus Bernardus. Nec mirari quisquam debet, si tanti viri in tam pestiferum erro…ē sunt lapsi: quoniam (ut beatus Iacobus Apostolusait) qui non offendit in verbo, hic perfectus est vir. Alphons. Castr. lib. 3. advers. haereses; verbo, Beatitudo, haer. 6.the Patrons thereof vvere famous men, renowned as well for holinesse as for knowledge: but telleth us withall, that no man ought to marvaile, that such great men should fall into so pestilent an error; because (as the Apostle S. Iames saith) he that offendeth not in word, is a perfect man.

Another particular opinion, which wee must sever from the generall intention of the Church in her oblations and prayers for the dead, is that which is noted by Theophylact upon the speech of our Saviour, Luk. 12.5. in which he wisheth us to observe, that nnforeign. Theophylact. in Luc. 12.Luke 12hee did not say, Feare him who after hee hath killed casteth into hell; but, hath power to cast into hell. For the sinners which dye (saith he) are not alwayes cast into hell: but it remaineth in the power of God, to pardon them also. And this I say for the oblations and doales which are made for the dead, which do not a little avayle even them that dye in grievous sinnes. He doth not therefore generally, after he hath killed, cast into hell; but hath power to cast. Wherfore let us not cease by almes and intercession to appease him, who hath power to cast, but doth not alwayes use this power, but is able to pardon also. Thus farre Theophylact: whom our Adversaries doe blindely bring in for the countenancing of their use of praying and offering for the dead; not considering, that the prayers and oblations which he would uphold, doe reach even unto such as dye in grievous sinnes (which the Romanists acknowledge to receive no reliefe at all by anie thing that they p. 226can doe) and are intended for the keeping of soules from being cast into Hell, and not for fetching them out when they have been cast into Purgatorie; a place that never came within the compasse of Theophylacts beleefe. His testimonie will fit a great deale better the prayer of S. Dunstan; ooO…bern. & Eadmer. (& ex …is, Capgrav. & Suriu…) in vitâ Dunstani. Vid. Gulielm. Malme…buriens. de gestis Regum Anglor. lib. 2. fol. 30. b. & lib. 1. de gestis Pontific. Anglor. fol. 115. …. edit. Londin.who (as the tale goeth) having understood that the soule of King Edwin was to be carried into Hell, never gave over praying untill hee had gotten him ridd of that danger, and transferred unto the coast of penitent soules: where hee well deserved, doubtlesse, to undergoe that penance which ppInjungatis mihi, ut secundùm voluntatē Dei sim in poenis Purgatorij usque in diem …ud…cii. Matth. Paru hist. Angl. an. 1198.Hugh Bishop of Coventry and Chester on his death-bed imposed upon himselfe; even to lye in the dungeon of Purgatory, without bayle or mainprise, untill the generall jayl…-deliverie of the last day.

Another private conceyte, intertained by diverse (as well of the elder as of middle times) in their devotions for the dead, was; that an augmentation of glory might thereby be procured for the Saincts, and eyther a totall deliverance, or a diminution of torment at least wise, obtained for the wicked. qqforeign. Chrys…st. in Ma…th. homil. 31. Graec. (32. Latin.) indeque homil. 69. pe…pe…àm insc…ipted populum Antiochen.If the Barbarians (saith S. Chrysostom) do bury with their dead the things that belong unto them: it is much more reason, that thou shouldest send with the deceased the things that are his; not that they may be made ashes, as they were, but that they may adde greater glory unto him. and, if hee be departed hence a sinner, that they may loose his sinnes; but if righteous, that an addition may be made to his reward and retribution. Yea in the verie latter dayes, Iuo Carnotensis writing unto Mawd Queene of England, concerning p. 227the prayers that were to be made for the King her brother his soule; saith, that rrNon vid…tur otiosum, si pro his intercedimus, qui jam requie perfruū tur, ut eorum requies augeatur. Iuo, ep. 174.it doth not seeme idle, if vve make intercessions for those who alreadie enjoy rest, that their rest may be encreased. Whereupon Pope Innocent the third doth bring this for one of the answers, wherewith he laboureth to salve the prayers which were used in the Church of Rome, that such or such an oblation might profite such or such a Sainct unto glory: that ssLicèt pleri que reputent non indignum, Sanctorum gloriā usque ad judicium augmentari: & ideò Ecclesiam interim sané posse augmentum glorificationis eorum optare. Innoc. 111. epist. ad archiep. Lugdun. Cap. Cùm Marthae Extr…. de celebr. M…ssar.many repute it no indignitie, that the glory of the Saincts should be augmented untill the day of judgement; and therefore that in the meane time the Church may wish the increase of their glorification. So likewise for the mitigation of the paines of them, whose soules were doubted to be in torment; this forme of prayer was of old used in the same Church (as in Grimoldus his Sacramentary may be seen) and retained in the Romane Missall it selfe, untill in the late reformation thereof it was removed. ttOmnipotens & misericors Deus, inclina, qua sumus, venerabiles aures tuas ad exiguas preces nostras, quas ante conspectum majestatis tuae p…o animâ famuli tui N. humiliter fundimus: ut quia de qualitate vitae ejus diffidimus, de abundantiâ pietatis tuae consolemur; & si plenam veniam anima ipsius obtinere non potest, saltem vel inter ipsa tormenta quae forsitan patitur, refrigerium de abundantiâ miserationum tuarum sentiat. Orat. pro defunc…. in M…ss…li Romano, edit. Parisan. 1529. Grim…ld. Sacramentar. tom. 2. Liturgic. Pamelij, pag. 457.O almightie and mercifull God, incline (vve beseech thee) thy holy eares unto our poore prayers, which we doe humbly poure forth before the sight of thy Majestie for the soule of thy servant N. that forasmuch as we are distrustfull of the qualitie of his life, by the abundance of thy pitie we may be comforted; and if his soule cannot obtaine full pardon, yet at least in the midst of the torments themselves, which peradventure it suffereth, out of the abundance of thy compassion it may feele refreshment. which prayer whither it tended, may appeare partly by that which Prudentius writeth of the play-dayes, which he supposeth the soules in Hell sometime do obtaine;

p. 228Prudent. lib. Cathem…riu… ̄n, …ymn. ….Sunt & spiritibus saepè nocentibus

Poenarum celebres sub Styge feriae, &c.

Marcent supplicijs Tartara mitibus,

Exultatque sui carceris otio

Vmbrarum populus, liber ab ignibus;

Nec fervent solito flumina sulphure.

partly by the doubtfull conceits of Gods mercifull dealing with the wicked in the world to come, which are found in xxAugust. E… chirid. ad Laurent. cap. 110.112.113. Hieronym. lib. 1. contra Pelag. & in fine Commenta…ior. in Esai. Gregor. Nazianz orat. 40. de Baptismo. foreign.others: but especially by these passages that we meet withall in the Sermons of S. Chrysostom.

yyforeign; (the Latin …dition r…ndreth this, not very faithfully: Hoc igitur non plorabimus, dic, oro? non tentabimus nos ab his periculis eripere?) foreign. Chrysost. in Act. hom. 21.This man hath spent his whole life in vaine, neyther hath lived one day to himselfe, but to voluptuousnesse, to luxury, to covetousnesse, to sinne, to the Divell. Tell me therefore; shall we not mourne for him? shall we not endevour to pull him out of these dangers? For there be meanes, if we will, whereby his punishment may be made light unto him. If then we doe make continuall prayers for him, if we besto… almes; although he be unworthy, God will respect us. For zzforeign. Ibid.many have received benefite by the almes that have beene given by others for them: and found thereby, although not a perfect, yet some consolation. aaforeign. Ibid.This therefore is done, that although we our selves be not vertuous, we may be carefull to get vertuous companions and friends, and wife and sonne; as looking to reape some fruit even by them also: reaping indeed but little, yet reaping some fruit notwithstanding. bbforeign; Id. in epist. ad Philip. hom. 3.Let us not therefore simply …eepe for p. 229the dead, but for such as are dead in their sinnes: these be worthy of lamentations and bewaylings and teares. For what hope is there (tell me) for men to depart with their sinnes, where they cannot put off their sinnes? for as long as they were here, there was peradventure great expectation, that they would be altered, that they would be bettered. but being gone unto Hell, where there is no gayning of any thing by repentance (for in hell, saith he, who shall confesse unto thee?) how are they not vvorthy of lamentations? ccforeign. Ibid.Let us therefore weepe for such, let us succour them to our power, let us finde out some help for them, little indeed, but yet such as may releeve them. How and after what maner? both praying our selves, and intreating others to make prayers for them, and giving continually unto the poore for them. for this thing bringeth some consolation.

The like doctrine is delivered by ddAndr. Hierosolymitan. foreign. pag. …9. edit. Meursij.Andrew archbishop of Crete, in his Sermon of the life of man, and of the dead; and by Iohn Damascen, or whosoever else was author of the book ascribed unto him, concerning them that are departed in the faith: where three notable tales are told, of the benefite that even Infidells and Idolaters themselves should receive by such prayers as these. One touching the soule of the Emperour Trajan, delivered from Hell by the prayers of Pope Gregory: of the truth whereof least anie man should make question, he affirmeth very roundly, that no lesse then eeforeign. Damascen. serm. de Defunctis.the whole East and West will witnesse that this is true and uncontroulable. And indeed in the East this fable seemeth first to have risen: where it obtayned such credite, that the Grecians to this day do still use this forme of prayer; ffforeign. Eucholog. Grae…. cap. 19.As thou didst loose Trajan from punishment by the earnest intercession of thy servant Gregory the Dialogue-writer, heare us likewise who pray unto thee. And p. 230therefore to them doth Hugo Etherianus thus appeale, for justifying the truth of this narration: ggNolite quaeso dicere in cordibus vestris, falsum hoc aut fictum esse. Quaerite, si placet, apud Graecos: Graeca certé omnis testatur haec Ecclesia. Hug. Etherian. de regr…ssu animar. ab Inferis, cap. 15.Do not, I pray you, say in your hearts, that this is false or fayned. Inquire, if you please, of the Grecians: the whole Greeke Church surely doth testifie these things. He might, if he had pleased, being an Italian himselfe, have inquired neerer home of the Romanes, among whom this feate was reported to have beene acted; rather then among the Grecians, who were strangers to the businesse. But the Romans, as wee understand by hhIo. Diacon. Vit. Gregor. li. 2. cap. 44.Iohannes Diaconus in the life of S. Gregory, found no such matter among their records; and when they had notice given them thereof out of the Legends of the Church of England (for from thence received they the newes of this and some other such strange acts reported to have beene done by S. Gregory among themselves) they were not verie hastie to beleeve it: because they could hardly be perswaded, that S. Gregory who had taught them, that iiGregor. Moral. in Iob, lib. 34. cap. 16. quod pen… ad verbum descriptum etiam habetur lib. 4. Dialogor. cap. 44.Infidels and wicked men departed out of this life, were no more to be prayed for then the Divell and his angells which were appointed unto everlasting punishment; should in his practise be found to be so much different from his judgement. The second tale toucheth upon the verie times of the Apostles: wherein the kkforeign. Basil. Seleuc. in ipso initio Commentarij de vitâ Theclae.Apostolesse Thecla is said to have prayed for Falconilla (the daughter of Tryphaena, whom S. Paul saluteth, Rom. 16.12.) llforeign. Damascen.a gentile and an Idolatresse, altogether profane and a servitour of another God, to this effect. mmforeign. Simeon. Metaphrast. in vitâ Theclae,O God, Sonne of the true God, grant unto Tryphaena according to thy will, that her daughter may live with thee time without end. or as p. 231Basil Bishop of Seleucia doth expresse it. nnforeign. Basil. Sel…us. lib. 1. de vitâ The…laeGrant unto thy servant Tryphaena, that her desire may be fulfilled concerning her daughter: her desire therein being this, that her soule may be numbred among the soules of those that have already beleeved in thee, and may enjoy the life and pleasure that is in Paradise.

The third tale he produceth out of Palladius his historicall book written unto Lausus (although neither in the Greek set out by Meursius, nor in the three severall Latin editions of that historie published before, the…e bee any such thing to be found): touching a dead mans skull, that should have uttered this speech unto Macarius the great Aegyptian anchorer. ooforeign. Damas…en.When thou dost offer up thy prayers for the dead, then doe wee feele some little cons…lation. A brainlesse answer you may well conceive it to be, that must be thought to have proceeded from a dry skull lying by the highway side: but as brainl…sse as it is, it hath not a little troubled the quick heads of our Romish Divines, and put m…ny an odd cratchet into their nimble braines. Renatus Laurentius telleth us, that ppNon est dubium quin Angelus fuit qui in cranio loquebatur Renat. …au…ent. annotat. in …er…ullian de Aniwâ. cap. 33.without all doubt it was an Angell that did speake in this skull. And qqAd rem itaque dico, caput illud, quod, ut habetur in D. Damasceno, in viâ jacebat, nō fuisse hominis damnat…, sed justi existentis in Purgatorio: nam Damascenus non dicit in illo sermone, quòd fuerit hominis Gentilis, ut ibi patet. Alp…o…s Mend…z. Controv T…eolo… qu… scholast …e…t 5I say (quoth Alphonsus Mendoza) that this head which lay in the way, was not the head of one that was damned, but of a just man remayning in Purgatory: for Damascen doth not say in that sermon, that i… was the head of a Gentile, as it may there be seene. And true it is indeed, he neither saith that it was so, neither yet that it was not so: but the Grecians generally relate the matter thus; that Macarius rrforeign. M…na. Graec. Ian…ar. 19.did heare this, from the skull of one that had p. 232been a Priest of Idoles, which he found lying in the wildernesse; that by his prayers such as were with him in punishment received a little ease of their torment, whensoever it fell out that he made the same for them. and among the Latins, Thomas Aquinas, and other of the Schoolemen take this for granted: because they found in the Lives of the Fathers, that the speech which the dead skull used was this. ssVit. Paltum. edit. Lugdun. an. 1515. f…l 105. col. 3.4. & fol. 143. col. 1.2. & edi. Antuerp. an. 1615. pag. 526. & 656.I was a Priest of the Gentiles (so Iohn the Roman subdeaco… translateth it) or, as Rufinus is supposed to have rendred it, I was the chiefe of the Priests of the Idoles, which dwelt in this place: and thou art abbot Macarius, that art filled with the spirit of God. At whatsoever houre therefore thou takest pitie of them that are in torments, and prayest for them; they then feele som consolation. Well, saith Mendoza then,ttQuòd si D. Tho. hanc historiam referens ex Vitis patrum, dicit fuisse caput Gentilis, ipse nodum hunc tenetur enodare. Alphons. Mendoz ut supr. if S. Thomas relating this history out of the Lives of the Fathers, doth say that this vvas the head of a Gentile; he himselfe is bound to untye this knot. And so hee doth: resolving the matter thus; uuThom. Aquin. in lib. 4. Sentent. distinct. 45. quaest. 2. artic. 2 ad 4. & Durād. in eand. quaest. num. 15.that the damned get no true ease by the prayers made for them, but such a phantasticall kinde of joy only, as the Divels are said to have, when they have seduced and deceived any man. xxAt fortasse meliùs rejicerentur, ut falsa & apocrypha, quae afferuntur de illo cranio. Bellarmin. de Purgator. lib. 2. cap. …8.But peradventure, saith Cardinall Bellarmine for the upshott, the things which are brought touching that skull, might better be rejected as false and apocryphall. and Stephen Durant, more peremptorily: yyQuare quod de Trajano & Falconillâ (quos liberatos ex inferno orationibus S. Gregorij & Theclae, ex Damasceno, & quibusdam alijs, vulgò fertur:) quae item de Cranio arido interrogato á Macario, ex historiâ Pailadij ad Lausum referuntur, ficta & commentitia sunt. Steph. Durant. de ritib. Eccles. lib. 2. cap. 43. sect. 12.The things vvhichwhich are told of Trajan and Falconilla, delivered out of hell by the prayers of S Gregory and Thecla, and of the dry skull spoken too by Macarius, be fayned and commentitious.

p. 233Which last answere, though it be the truest of all the rest; yet is it not to be doubted for all that, but that the generall credite which these fables obtained, together with the countenance which the opinion of the Origenists did receive from Didymus, Euagrius, Gregory Nyssen, (if he be not corrupted) and other Doctors, inclined the minds of men verie much, to apply the common use of praying for the dead unto this wrong end of hoping to relieve the damned thereby. S. Augustine doth shew, that in his time not onelyonly zzFrustrà ita que nonnulli, imò quamplurimi, aete…nam damnatorum poenam, & cruciatus sine intermissione perpetuos, humano miserantur affectu; at que ita futurū esse non credunt. Augustin. Enchirid. ad Laurent cap. 112.some, but exceeding many also, did out of an humane affection take compassion of the eternall paines of the damned, and would not beleeve that they should never have an end. And notwithstanding this error was publickly condemned afterwards in the Origenists, by the fifth generall Councell held at Constantinople: yet by idle and voluptuous persons was it still greedily embraced (as aaIoh…n. Climac. in fine 5. gradus Scalae suae.Climacus complaineth) and bbSunt enim nunc etiam, qui ideirco peccatis suis ponere finem negligunt, quia habere quando que finem futura super se judicia suspicantur. Gregor. Moral. in Iob, lib. 34. cap. 16.even now also, saith S. Gregory, there be some, who therefore neglect to put an end unto their sinnes, because they imagine that the judgements which are to come upon them shall sometimes have an end. Yea of late dayes this opinion was maintayned by the Porretanians (as Thomas calleth them) and some of the ccGloss. in Graetian caus. 13. quaest. 2. cap. 23 Tempus. Durand in lib. 4. Sentent. dist. 45. quaest. 2. num. 7. Haec est sententia aliquorum Iuristarum.Canonists (the one following therein Gilbert Porreta Bishop of Poictiers, in his booke of Theological Questions; the other Iohn Semeca, in his Glosse upon Gratian) that by the prayers and suffrages of the living the paines of some of the damned were continually diminished; in such maner as infinite proportionable parts may be taken from a line, without ever comming unto an end of the division: which was in p. 234effect to take from them at the last all paine of sense or sense of paine. For (as ddQuia in divisione lineae tandem pervenitur ad hoc quod non est sensibile: corpus enim sensibile non est in infinitum divisibile. Et sic sequeretur, quòd post mu…ta suffragia poena reman…s propter sui parvitatem non sentiretur; & ita non esset poena. …hom in 4. Sentenl. dist. 45. qu. 2. art. 2.Thomas observeth it rightly, and eeDurand, in 4. d 45. q. 2. num 8.Durand after him) in the division of a Line, at last we must come unto that which is not sensible: considering that a sensible bodie cannot be divided infinitely. and so it would follo…, that after many suffrages that paine remayning should not be sensible; and consequently should be no paine at all.

Neither is it to be forgotten that the invention of All Soules day (of which you may reade, if you please, Polydore Vergil in his sixth booke of the Inventers of things, and the ninth chapter) that solemne day, I say, wherein our Romanists most devoutly perform all their superstitious observances for the dead; was occasioned at the first by the apprehension of this same erroneous conceit, that the soules of the damned might not onelyonly be eased, but fully also delivered by the almes & prayers of the living. The whole narration of the businesse is thus laid down by Sigebertus Gemblacensis in his Chronic…e, at the yeare of our Lord 998. ffHoc tempore quidam religiosus ab Hicrosolymis re diens in Siciliâ reclusi cujus…ā humanitate a liquandiu recreatus, didicit ab eo intercete…, quòd in illâ v…iniâ essent … …ructantia flammarum incendia, quae …oca vocantur ab incolis O…lae Vulcani, in quibus animae reproborū luant diversa pro meritorū qualitate supplicia; ad ea exequ…nda d…pu…atis ibi daemonibus, quorum se crebrò voces, iras, & terrores, saepè etiam …julatus … dicebat, plangen…ium quòd animae damnatorū eriperentur de manibus eorum per … & preces fideliū; & hoc tempore magis per orationes Cluniacens…um, orantiū indefessé pro defunctorum requie. Hoc per ipsum Abbas Odilo compe…o, constituit per omnia monasteri… sibi …ubjecta, ut sicut primo die Novembris solemnitas omniū Sanctorum agitur, ita s…quē …i die memoria omniū in Christo quies ētiū celebretur Quiritus ad multas Ecclesias transions, fideliū defunctorū memoriā solemnizari fecit. Sigeberi. Ch…on. an. 998.This time, saith he, a certaine religious man returning from Ierusalem, being intertained for a while in Sicile by the courtesie of a certaine anchoret, learned from him among other matters, that there were places neere unto them that used to cast up burning flames, which by the inhabitants were called the Potts of Vulcan, wherein the soules of the reprobate according p. 235to the qualitie of their deserts did suffer diverse punishments; the Divels being there deputed for the execution therof whose voyces, angers and terrors, and somtimes howlings also he said he often heard, as lamenting that the soules of the damned were taken out of their hands by the almes and prayers of the faithfull; and more at this time by the prayers of the monkes of Cluny, who prayed vvithout ceasing for the rest of those that were deceased. The abbot Odilo having understood this by him, appointed throughout all the monasteries under his subjection, that as upon the first day of November the solemnitie of all the Saints is observed, so upon the day following, the memoriall of all that rested in Christ should be celebrated. Which rite passing into many other Churches, made the memory of the faithfull deceased to be solemnized.

For the elect, this forme of prayer was wont to be used in the Romane Church. ggDues, cui soli cognitus est numerus electorū in supernâ felicitate locandorum: tribue quaesumus, ut universorū, quos in oratione commendatos suscepimus, vel omnium sideliū nomina, beatae praedestinationis liber asscripta retineat. Gregor. Oper. tom. 5. col. 226. Alcuin. lib. Sacramentor. cap. 18. Oper. col. 1190. Missal. Roman. edit. Paris…an. 1529. inter Orationes commun…s.O God, unto whom alone is knowne the number of the elect that are to be placed in the supernall blisse: grant, we beseech thee, that the book of blessed predestination may retaine the names of all those whom we have undertaken to recommend in our prayer, or of all the faithfull, that are written therein. And to pray, that the names of all those that are written in the book of Gods election, should still be retayned therein, may be somewhat tolerable: considering (as the Divines of that side have informed us) that those things may be prayed for, which we know most certainly wilcome to passe. But hardly, I think, shall you finde in any Rituall a form of prayer answerable to this of the monkes of Cluny for the reprobate: unlesse it be that, whereby S. Francis is said to have obtained, that friat Elias should be made hhRaphäel Volater…an. Commentar. Vrban. lib. 21.ex praescito praedestinatus, an elect of a reprobare. Yet it seemeth, that some were not very well p. 236pleased, that what was done so seldom by S. Francis the iiBonaventur. in Prelogo Vitae Francisci. Bernardin. d… Busto, Rosar tom. 2. serm. 27. …a. 1.2.Angel of the Friars, (& that for a reprobate yet living) should be so usually practised by the followers of S. Odilo the kkFulbert. Carnot…s. epist. 66.Archangel of the Monkes for reprobates that were dead: & therefore in the cōmon editions of Sigeberts Chronicle they have cleane strucke out the word damnatorū, & instead of reproborū chopt in defunctorū. which depravatiō may be detected, aswel by the sincere edition of Sigebert published by Aubertus Miraeus out of the Manuscript of Gemblac abbay (w^ch is thought to be the originall copie of Sigebert himselfe) as by the comparing of him with Petrus Damiani in the life of Odilo, whence this whole narration was by him borrowed. For there also doe we reade, that in those flaming places llIn quibus etiam locis a…in…e reproborū d…versa luunt pro meritorum qualitate tormenta. Petr. Dami…n in vit. Odd. …omo. 1. Suri…, Ianuar. 1.the soules of the reprobate according to the qualitie of their deserts did suffer diverse torments: and that the Divels did complaine, mmQuòd orationibus & eleemosynis quorundam, adversus eos infoe derabiliter concertantiū, frequenter ex eorum manibus eriperentur animae damnatorum. Inter caetera de Cluniacensium caetu permaximā & eorum abbate querimoniam faciunt, quia quàm sae pè per eos sui …uris vernaculos perdunt. Ibid.that by the almes and prayers of Odilo and others, the soules of the damned were taken out of their hands.

By these things we may see, what we are to judge of that which our Adversaries presse so much against us out of Epiphanius: that he nnAllen of Purgatory and prayer for the dead, lib. 2. cap. 14.nameth an obscure fellow one Aërius to be the first author of this heresie; that prayers and sacrifice profiteth not the departed in Christ. For neyther doth Epiphanius name this to be an heresie: neyther doth it appeare that himselfe did hold, that praiers and oblations bring such profite to the dead as these men dreame they do. He is much deceived, who thinketh everie thing that Epiphanius findeth fault withall in heretickes, is esteemed by him to be an heresie: seeing heresie cannot be but in matters of faith, and the course which Epiphanius taketh in that worke is not only to declare, in what speciall points of faith hereticks p. 237did dissent from the Catholicke doctrine, but in what particular observances also they refused to follow the received customes and ordinances of the Church. Therefore at the end of the whole worke hee setteth downe a Briefe, ooforeign. Epiphan. infine Panarij. pag. 465.first of the faith, and then of the ordinances and observances of the Church: and among the particulars of the latter kinde, he rehearseth this: ppforeign. Ibid. pag. 466.For the dead, they make commemorations by name, performing (or, when they doe performe) their prayers and divine service and dispensation of the mysteries, and disputing against Aërius touching the point it selfe, hee doth not at all charge him with forsaking the doctrine of the Scriptures, or the faith of the Catholick Church concerning the state of those that are departed out of this life: but with rejecting the order observed by the Church in her Commemorations of the dead; which being an ancient institution, brought in upon wonderfull good considerations, should not by this humorous hereticke have beene thus condemned. qqforeign. Id. haeres. 75. pag. 388.The Church, saith he, doth necessarily performe this, having received it by tradition from the Fathers: and who may dissolve the ordinance of his mother, or the law of his Father? and againe. rrforeign. Ibid.Our mother the Church hath ordinances setled in her, which are inviolable and may not be broken. Seeing then there are ordinances established in the Church, and they are well and all things are admirably done: this seducer is againe refuted.

For the further opening hereof, it will not be amisse to consider both of the objection of Aërius, and of the answer of Epiphanius. Thus did Aërius argue against p. 238the practise of the Church. ssforeign. Aërius, apud Epiphan. ib. pag. 386.For what reason doe you commemorate after death the names of those that are departed? He that is alive prayeth, or maketh dispensation (of the mysteries:) what shall the dead be profited hereby? And if the prayer of those here doe altogether profite them that be there: then let no body be godly, let no man do good, but let him procure some friends by what meanes it pleaseth him, eyther perswading them by money, or intreating friends at his death; and let them pray for him, that he may suffer nothing there, and that those inexpiable sins which he hath cōmitted may not be required at his hands. This was Aërius his argumentation: which would have beene of force indeed, if the whole Church had held, as manie did; that the judgement after death was suspended untill the generall Resurrection, and that in the meane time the sinnes of the dead might be taken away by the suffrages of the living. But hee should have considered, as Stephanus Gobarus (who was as great an heretick as himselfe) did, that the Doctors were not agreed upon the point; some of them maintayning, ttforeign. Gobar in Photij Bibliothe: â vel. 232.the soule of every one that departed out of this life received very great profite by the prayers and oblations and almes that were performed for him, and others on the contrary side, that it was not so: and that it was a foolish part of him, to confound the private opinion of some, with the common faith of the universall Church. That he reproved this particular error, (which seemeth to have gotten head in his time, as being most plausible to the multitude, and very pleasing unto the looser sort of Christians) therein he did well: but that thereupon he condemned the generall practise of the Church, which had no dependance upon that erroneous conceipt, therein he did like unto himselfe, headily p. 239and perversely. For the Church in her Commemorations and prayers for the dead had no relation at all unto those that had ledd their lives lewdly and dissolutely (as appeareth plainly, both by the uuforeign. Di…nys. Eccles. Hierarch. cap. 7. init E… postea: foreign.author of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy, and by diverse other evidences before alledged) but unto those that did end their lives in such a godly maner, as gave pregnant hope unto the living, that their soules were at rest with God: and to such as these alone did it wish the accomplishment of that which remained of their redemption; to wit, their publick justification and solemne acquitall at the last day, and their perfect consummation of blisse, both in body and soule, in the kingdome of heaven for ever after. not that the event of these things was conceived to be anie wayes doubtfull (for wee have beene told, that things may be prayed for, the event whereof is knowne to be most certaine) but because the commemoration thereof was thought to serve for speciall use, not onelyonly in regard of the manifestation of the affection of the living toward the dead (he that prayed, as Dionysius noteth, xxforeign. Id. ibid.desiring other mens gifts as if they were his owne graces) but also in respect of the consolation and instruction which the living might receive thereby; as Epiphanius in his answer to Aërius doth more particularly declare.

The obiection of Aërius was this. The Commemorations and prayers used in the Church bring no profit to the dead: therefore as an unprofitable thing they are to be reiected. To this doth Epiphanius thus frame his answer. yyforeign. Epiphan. haeres. 75.As for the reciting of the names of p. 240those that are deceased; what can be better then this? what more commodious, and more admirable? that such as are present do beleeve, that they who are departed do live, and are not extinguished, but are still being and living with the Lord: and that this most pious preaching might be declared; that they who pray for their brethren have hope of them as being in a peregrination. Which is as much in effect, as if he had denied Aërius his consequence: and answered him, that although the dead were not profited by this action, yet it did not therefore follow that it should be condemned as altogether unprofitable. because it had a singular use otherwise: namely to testifie the faith and the hope of the living, concerning the dead. the faith: in zzforeign Dionys. Eccl…s. Hierarch. cap. 3. foreign. Clem. Consti…ut Apost. lib. 6. cap. 29.declaring them to be alive, (for so doth Dionysius also expound the Churches intention in her publick nomination of the dead) and as Divinitie teacheth, not mortified but translated from death unto a most divine life. the hope: in that they signified hereby, that they accounted their brethren to have departed from them no otherwise than as if they had beene in a journey, with expectation to meet them afterward; and by this meanes made a difference betwixt themselves, and aa1. Thess. 4.13.1 Thess 4:13others which had no hope. Then doth Epiphanius proceed further in answering the same objection, after this maner. bbforeign. (f. foreign Epiphan haer. 75.The prayer also which is made for them doth profite, although it do not cut off all their sinnes: yet forasmuch as whilest we are in the world, we oftentimes slip both unwillingly and with our will; it serveth to signifie that which is more perfect. For p. 241we make a memoriall, both for the just and for sinners: for sinners, intreating the mercy of God; for the just, (both the Fathers and Patriarches, the Prophets, and Apostles, and Euangelists, and Martyrs and Confessors, Bish…ps also and Anchorites, and the whole order) that vve may sever our Lord Iesus Christ from the ranke of all other men by the honour that we doe unto him, and that we may yeeld worship unto him. Which, as farre as I apprehend him, is no more then if he had thus replyed unto Aërius. Although the prayer that is made for the dead doe not cut off all their sinnes (which is the onelyonly thing that thou goest about to prove) yet doth it profite notwithstanding for another purpose: namely to signifie the supereminent perfection of our Saviour Christ above the rest of the sonnes of men, who are subiect to manifold slipps and falls as long as they live in this world.

For aswell the righteous, with their involuntarie slipps, as sinners, with their voluntarie falls, doe come within the compasse of these Commemorations: wherein prayers are made, both for ccLuk. 15 ….Luke 15sinners that repent, and for righteous persons that have no such need of repentance. For sinners; that being by their repentance recovered out of the snare of the Divell, they may finde mercy of the Lord at the last day, and bee freed from the fire prepared for the Divell and his angells: For the righteous; that they may be recompensed in the resurrection of the iust, and received into the kingdome prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Which kinde of prayer being made for the best men that ever lived (even the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, Euangelists, and Martyrs themselves) Christ onelyonly excepted; sheweth that the profite which the Church intended should be reaped therefrom, was not p. 242the taking away of the sinnes of the parties that were prayed for, but the honouring of their Lord above them: it being hereby declared, ddforeign. Epiphan. contra Aëri. haer. 75.that our Lord is not to be compared unto any man; though a man live in righteousnesse a thousand times and more. for how should that be possible? considering that the one is God, the other man, (as the praying to the one, and for the other, doth discover) and the one is in heaven, the other in earth by reason of the remaines of the body yet resting in the earth, untill the day of the Resurrection, unto which all these prayers had speciall reference. This do I conceive to be the right meaning of Epiphanius his answer: as suting best both with the generall intention of the Church, which he taketh upon him to vindicate from the misconstruction of Aërius, & with the application therof unto his obiection, & with the known doctrine of Epiphanius, delivered by him elsewhere in these terms. eeforeign. Id. cont. Cathar. haer. 59.After death there is no helpe to be gotten, eyther by godlinesse, or by repentance. For Lazarus doth not goe there unto the rich man, nor the rich man unto Lazarus: neyther doth Abraham send any of his spoyles, that the poore may be afterward made rich thereby; neyther doth the rich man obtaine that which he asketh, although hee intreat mercifull Abraham …ith instant supplication. For the Garners are sealed up, and the time is fulfilled, and the combat is finished, and the lists are voyded, and the Garlands are given, and such as have fought are at rest, and such as have not obtained are gone forth, and such as have not fought cannot now be present in time, and such as have beene overthrowne in the lists are cast out, and all p. 243things are clearely finished, after that we are once departed from hence.

We are to consider then, that the prayers and oblations, for reiecting whereof Aërius was reproved, were not such as are used in the Church of Rome at this day, but such as were used by the ancient Church at that time: and therefore as we in condemning of the one, have nothing to doe with Aërius or his cause; so the Romanists, who dislike the other as much as ever Aërius did, must be content to let us alone, and take the charge of Aërianisme home unto themselves. Popish prayers and oblations for the dead, we know, do wholly depend upon the beleefe of Purgatorie: if those of the ancient Church did so too; how commeth it to passe that Epiphanius doth not directly answer Aërius, as a Papist would doe now, that they brought singular profite to the dead, by delivering their tormented soules out of the flames of Purgatorie? but forgetting as much as once to make mention of Purgatorie (the sole foundation of these suffrages for the dead, in our Adversaries iudgement) doth trouble himselfe and his cause, with bringing in such farr fett reasons as these: that they who performed this dutie, did intend to signifie thereby that their brethren departed were not perished, but remained still alive with the Lord; and to put a difference betwixt the high perfection of our Saviour Christ, and the generall frailtie of the best of all his servants. Take away Popish Purgatorie on the other side, (which in the dayes of Aërius and Epiphanius needed not to be taken away, because it was not as yet hatched) and all the reasons produced by Epiphanius will not withhold our Romanists from absolutely subscribing to the opinion of Aërius: this being a case p. 244with them resolved; that ffAd hoc etiā est univ…rsalis …cclesiae consue…udo, quae p…o defunctis o…at: quae quidem oratio inu…ilis esset, si Purgatorium post mortem non ponatur. Thom. contr. Gentiles, lib. 4. cap. 91.if Purgatory be not admitted after death, prayer for the dead must be unprofitable. But though Thomas Aquinas and his abettors determine so, we must not therefore thinke that Epiphanius was of the same minde; who lived in a time wherein prayers were usually made for them that never were dreamed to have beene in Purgatorie, and yeeldeth those reasons of that usage, which overthrow the former consequence of Thomas everie whit as much, as the supposition of Aërius.

For Aërius and Thomas both agree in this: that prayer for the dead would be altogether unprofitable, if the dead themselves received no speciall benefite thereby. This doth Epiphanius (defending the ancient use of these prayers in the Church) shew to be untrue; by producing other profites that redounded from thence unto the living: partly by the publick signification of their faith, hope, & charitie toward the deceased; partly by the honour that they did unto the Lord Iesus, in exempting him from the common condition of the rest of mankinde. And to make it appeare, that these things were mainly intended by the Church in her Memorialls for the dead, and not the cutting off of the sinnes which they carried with them out of this life, or the releasing of them out of anie torment: he alledgeth (as wee have heard) that not onelyonly the meaner sort of Christians, but also the best of them without exception, even the Prophets and Apostles & Martyrs themselves, were comprehended therein. from whence, by our Adversaries good leave, we wil make bold to frame this syllogisme.

They who reject that kind of praying and offering for the dead, which was practised by the p. 245Church in the daies of Aërius, are in that point flatt Aërians.

But the Romanists doe reject that kinde of praying and offering for the dead, which was practised by the Church in the dayes of Aërius.

Therefore the Romanists are in this point flatt Aërians.

The assumption or second part of this argument (for the first we thinke no body will denie) is thus proved.

They who are of the judgement, that prayers and oblations should not be made for such as are beleeved to be in blisse; doe reiect that kinde of praying and offering for the dead, which was practised by the ancient Church.

But the Romanists are of this iudgement.

Therefore they reiect that kinde of praying and offering for the dead, which was practised by the ancient Church.

The truth of the first of these propositions doth appear by the testimonie of Epiphanius, compared with those manie other evidences whereby we have formerly proved, that it was the custome of the ancient Church to make prayers and oblations for them, of whose resting in peace and blisse there was no doubt at all conceived. The veritie of the second is manifested by the confession of the Romanists themselves: who reckon this for one of their ggFr. Suaerez, tom 4. in 3. part. Thom. disp. …8. sect. 4. …um. 10.Catholicke verities; that suffrages should not be offered for the dead that raigne with Christ. and therefore that ancient hhIlla formula precandi pro Apostolis, Martyribus & caet. meritò per des…etudinem exolevit. Alphons. Mend…z. Controvers Theologic. quaest. 6. s…holast. s…ct. 7.forme of praying for the Apostles, Martyrs, and the rest of the Saincts, is by disuse deservedly abolished; saith Alphonsus Mendoza. Nay iiGraeci sacrificia & preces offerunt Deo pro mortuis; non beatis certé, ne que damnatis ad inferos, quod plané esset absurdum & impium. Io. Azor. Institut. moral. tom. 1. lib. 8. cap. 20.to offer sacrifices and prayers to God for those that are in blisse, is plainly absurd and impious, in the iudgement p. 246of the Iesuite Azorius: who was not aware, that thereby hee did outstrippe Aërius in condemning the practise of the ancient Church, as farre, as the censuring it only to be unprofitable (for foreign; what shall the dead be profited thereby? was the furthest that Aërius durst to goe) commeth short of reiecting it as absurd and impious. And therefore our Adversaries may doe well, to purge themselves first from the blott of Aërianisme which sticketh so fast unto them, before they be so readie to cast the aspersion thereof upon others.

In the meane time, the Reader who desireth to be rightly informed in the iudgement of Antiquitie touching this point, is to remember; that these two questions must necessarily be distinguished in this inquiry. Whether prayers and oblations were to be made for the dead? and, Whether the dead did receive any peculiar profite thereby? In the latter of these, he shall finde great difference among the Doctors: in the former, verie little, or none at all. For kkQuamvis de statu illo animarum, quibus haec prodessent, non satis constaret, nee inter omnes conveniret: omnes tamen hoc officium, ut testimonium charitatis erga defunctos, & ut professionē fidei de immortalitate animarum & futurâ resurrectione, Deo gratum & Ecclesiae utile esse judicârunt. Cassand. Consultat. ad Fe…dinand. l. & Maximilian. II. artic. 24.howsoever all did not agree about the state of the soules (saith Cassander, an indifferent Papist) vvhichwhich might receive profite by these things: yet all did judge this dutie, as a testimonie of their love toward the dead, and a profession of their faith touching the soules immortalitie and the future resurrection, to be acceptable unto God and profitable to the Church. Therefore for condemning the generall practise of the Church herein, which aymed at those good ends before expressed, Aë…ius was condemned: but for denying that the dead received profite thereby, eyther for the pardon of the sinnes which before were unremitted, or for the cutting off or mitigation of anie torments that they did endure in the other world, the Church p. 247did never condemne him. For that was no new thing invented by him: diverse worthy men before and after him declared themselves to be of the same minde, and were never for all that charged with the least suspition of heresie. llforeign. Iustin. r…sp. ad Orthod. quaest. 60.The narration of Lazarus and the rich man (saith the author of the Questions and Answers in the workes of Iustin Martyr) presenteth this doctrine unto us: that after the departure of the soule out of the body, men cannot by any providence or care obtaine any profite. mmforeign. Greg. Nazianz in Ca…m. de rebus suis.Then (saith Gregory Nazianzen) in vaine shall anie one goe about to relieve those that lament. Here men may have a remedie, but afterwards there is nothing but bonds, or, all things are fast bound. For nnPost mortē poena peccati est immedicabilis. Theodoret. quaest. in lib. 2. Reg. cap 18.19.2 Kgs 18:19after death the punishment of sinne is remedilesse: saith Theodoret. and therefore S. Hierome doth conclude: ooObscuré licèt docemur, per hanc sententiolam, novum dogma quod la…tat: dum in praesenti saeculo sumus, sive orationibus sive consilijs invicē posse nos coadjuvari; cùm autem ante tribunal Christi venerimus, non Iob, non Daniel, nec Noe rogare posse pro quoquam, sed unumquemque portare onus suum. Hieronym. lib. 3. Comm…ntar in Galat. cap. 6.Gal 6that while we are in this present world, we may be able to helpe one another, eyther by our prayers or by our counsailes; but when vvee shall come before the judgement seat of Christ, neyther Iob, nor Daniel, nor Noah can intreate for any one, but every one must beare his owne burden.

Other Doctors were of another iudgement: that the dead received speciall profite by the prayers and oblations of the living; eyther for the remission of their sinnes, or the easing of their punishment. but whether this were restrained to smaller offences only, or such as lived and died in great sinnes might be made partakers of the same benefite, and whether these mens torments might be lessened only thereby, or in tract of time quite extinguished; they did not agree upon. That Stephanus Gobarus, whom before I alledged, made a p. 248collection of the different sentences of the Fathers: ppforeign. Phot. Bibliothec. volum. 232.whereof some contayned the received doctrine of the Church, others the unallowable opinions of certaine of the ancient that varied therefrom. Of this latter kinde he maketh this sentence to be one: qqforeign. Ibid.that such sinners as be delivered unto punishment, are purged therein from their sinnes, and after their purging are freed from their punishment; albeit not all who are delivered unto punishment, be thus purged and freed, but some onelyonly. whereas the true sentence of the Church was; that none at all was freed from punishment. If that were the true sentence of the Church, that none of those who suffered punishment in the other world were ever freed from the same: then the applying of prayers to the helping of mens soules out of any such punishments, must be referred to the erroneous apprehension of some particular men, and not to the generall intention of the ancient Church; from which in this point, as in manie others beside, the latter Church of Rome hath swarved and quite gone astray. The ancient writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie, handling this matter of praying for the dead professedly, rrforeign. Dionys. Eccles. Hierarch. cap. 7.doth by way of objection move this doubt: to vvhat purpose should the Bishop intreat the divine goodnesse to grant remission of sinnes unto the dead, and a like glorious inheritance with those that have followed God? seeing by such prayers he can be brought to no other rest, but that which is fitting for him and answerable unto the life which he hath here ledd. If our Romish divinitie had bene then acknowledged by the Church; there had beene no place left to such questions and doubts as these. The matter might easily have beene answered, that though a man did die in the state of grace, yet was he not presently p. 249to be admitted unto the place of rest, but must first be reckoned withall; both for the committall of those smaller faults, unto which through humane frailtie he was daily subject, and for the not performance of full penance and satisfaction for the greater sinnes into which in this life he had fallen: and Purgatorie being the place wherein he must be cleansed from the one, and make up the iust payment for the other; these prayers were directed unto God for the deliverie of the poore soule, which was not now in case to helpe it selfe, out of that place of torment.

But this author, taking upon him the person of S. Pauls scholler, and professing to deliver herein ssforeign. Id ibid.that tradition which he had received from his divine Masters; saith no such thing, but giveth in this for his answer. The divine Bishop, as the Scriptures witnesse, is the interpreter of the divine judgements: for hee is the Angell of the Lord God almightie. He hath learned therefore out of the oracles delivered by God, that a most glorious and divine life is by his just judgement worthily adwarded to them that have lived holily; his divine goodnesse and kindenesse passing over those blots which by humane frailtie he had contracted: forasmuch as no man, as the Scriptures speake, is free from pollution. The Bishop therefore knowing these things to be promised by the true oracles; prayeth that they may accordingly come to passe, and those sacred rewards may be bestowed upon them that have lived holily. The Bishop at that time belike did not know so much as our Popish Bishops doe now; that Gods servants must dearely smart in Purgatorie for p. 250the sinnes wherewith they were overtaken through humane infirmitie: he beleeved that God of his mercifull goodnesse would passe by those slipps, and that such after-reckonings as these should give no stoppage to the present bestowing of those holy rewards upon the children of the promise. ttforeign, etc. Id ibid.Ther…fore the divine Bishop (saith our author) asketh those things which vvere promised by God and are gratefull to him and without doubt will be granted: the…eby aswell manifesting his own good disposition, unto God who is a lover of the good; as declaring like an interpreter unto them that be present, the gifts that shall befall to such as are holy. Hee further also addeth, that the Bishops have a separating power, as the interpreters of Gods judgements: according to that commission of Christ; Whose sinnes ye remitt, they are remitted unto them, and whose you shall retaine, they are retained. and, Whatsoever thou shalt binde upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven. And as in the use of the keyes, the uuSee above, pag. 135.161.162.Schoolemen following S Hierom do account the minister to be the interpreter onelyonly of Gods judgement, by declaring what is done by him in the binding or loosing of mens sinnes: so doth this author he…e give them power onelyonly to xxforeign. Dionys…u…. suprà.separate those that are al…eady judged of God, and by way of yyforeign. …d ibid.declaration, and convoy, to bring in those that are beloved of God, and to exclude such as are ungodly. And if the power which the Ministers have received by the foresaid commission doe extend it selfe to any further reall operation upon the living: Pope Gelasius will denie that it may be stretched in like maner unto the dead; because that Ch…ist saith, Whatsoever thou shalt binde upon earth. zzSuper ter…ā inquit nam in hâc ligatione defunctum nusquam dixit absolvi. Gelas in Commonitorio ad ….He saith upon earth: for he that dyeth bound, p. 251is no where said to be loosed. and, aaQuod manens in corpore non receperit, consequi exutus carne non poterit. Leo, epist 89. v…l 91. ad Th…od…rimo.that which a man remayning in his body hath not received, being uncloathed of his flesh he cannot obtaine: saith Leo.

Whether the dead received profite by the prayers of the living, was still a question in the Church. Maximus in his Greeke scholies upon the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy, wisheth us to bbforeign. Maxim. schol. in Eccles. Hierarch cap. 7.marke, that even before his time that doubt was questioned. Among the questions wherein Dulcitius desired to be resolved by S. Augustin, we finde this to be one; ccVirum oblatio, quae sit pro quiescentibus, aliquid eorum conserat animabus? Augustin ad Dul…it. qu…est. 2.Whether the offering that is made for the dead, did avayle their soules any thing? and that ddÁd quod multi dicunt, quòd si al. quis beneficij in hoc locus possit esse post mortem; quanto magis sibi anima ferret i…sa refr…geria, sua per s… illic confitendo peccata, quàm in eorum refrigeriū ab alijs oblatio procuratur. Ibid.MANY did say to this, that if herein any good were to be done after death; how much rather should the soule it selfe obtaine ease for it selfe, by it owne confessing of her sinnes there, than that for the ease thereof an oblation should be procured by other men. The like also is noted by Cyrill or rather Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem; that he eeforeign; Cyr…ll. Cateches. 5. My…tagogic.knew MANY who said thus. What profite doth the soule get that goeth out of this world (eyther with sinnes, or not with sinnes) if you make mention of it in prayer? and by Anastasius Sinaita (or Nicaenus:) ffforeign. Anastas. sin. pag. 540 edit. Graecolat.Some doe doubt; saying that the dead are not profited by the oblations that are made for them. and (long after them) by Petrus Cluniacensis in his treatise against the followers of Peter Bruse in France: ggQuòd bona vivorum mortuis prodesse valeant, & hi haeretici negant, & …uidam etiam Catholici dubitare videntur. Petr. Cluniac. …p…st. contra Petrobrusianos.That the good deeds of the living may profit the dead, both these hereticks doe deny, and some Catholicks also do seeme to doubt. Nay in the West, not the profite onelyonly, but the lawfulnesse also of these doings for the dead was called in question: p. 252as partly may be collected by Boniface archbishop of Mentz his consulting with Pope Gregory, about 730. yeares after the birth of our Saviour; hhPro obeuntibus quoque consul…isse dignosceris, si lice at oblationes offerre. Gregor. II. vel III. epist. ad Bonifac. in tomis Conciliorū.Whether it were lawfull to offer oblations for the dead (which hee should have no reason to doe, if no question had beene made thereof among the Germans) and is plainly delivered by Hugo Etherianus, about 1170. yeares after Christ, in these words. iiScio pleros que vanis opinionibus defor…ari, putantes non esse orandum pro mortuis; eo quòd ne que Christus, ne que Apostoli ejus successores haec scriptis intimaverint. Nesciūt quidem illi plura esse, ac persummé necessaria, quae sancta Ecclesia frequentat, quorum traditio ex scripturis non habetur: nihilo tamen minus ad cultum Dei pertinent, & vigorem maximum obtinent. Hug. Etherian. de Animar. regr…ss. ab infer. cap. 13I know that many are deformed with vaine opinions, thinking that the dead are not to be prayed for: because that neither Christ, nor the Apostles that succeeded him have intimated these things in the Scriptures. But they are ignorant that there be many things, and those exceeding necessary, frequented by the holy Church, the tradition whereof is not had in the Scriptures: and yet they pertaine neverthelesse to the worship of God, and obtaine great strength. Whereby it may appeare, that this practise wanted not opposition even then, when in the Papacie it was advanced unto his greatest height. And now is it high time, that I should passe from this article, unto the next following