The Christian Disputations, Dialogue 2 · Argument
THE SVMME OF THE ſeconde booke.
SIth that we hauehave already declared in the firſt Dialogue the agreeing of the Platonicall, Poeticall, and Papiſticall Purgatory, and the diuers manners of purgations, that hauehave bene, aſwell among the Panims as the Chriſtian Idolaters, and howe all thoſe things were inuented by the Prieſtes for to ſerue their auarice, and rapacitie, the which was more greater in them, then it was euer in others: Now we wil bring in, declare and ſette foorth perticulerly their other practiſes, & the office which thei do for the dead, & how at the funeralls, burialls & mortuaries they follow more the errours and abuſes of the Panims, then the examples of the true ſeruaunts of God aſwell in their ſingings and lamentacions that they make for the deade, as in torches, lyghtes, belles, ryngings, and ſepultures. Therefore I hauehave intituled this Dialogue: The office of the deade: In which alſo we will declare, what is the honour that is due vntounto the deade: what ought to be the burialls, funeralls, and the ſorrowing of the Chriſtians: what hath bene the beginning, in making, cōmemoration & prayers for the dead. Alſo we will declare the principall poynts of the Maſſe of Requiem, that they doe ſing for the dead, and wee will proue by their owne words, that they doe pray rather for the Saints and Saintes, and for thoſe that are in Paradiſe in ioye and celeſtiall reſt, then for thoſe which are in paynes, be it in Purgatorie, or in any other place, according to their owne doctrine: and how by their owne praiers they ſufficiently teſtifie and witneſſe that in their doctrine there is nothing that is certeine, and that they holde not thoſe whome they doe iudge to be in Purgatory, as aſſured of their ſaluation.
It ſhalbe alſo declared what is the true Purgatory of Ieſus Chriſt, and the true ſatiſfaction of the Chriſtians towards God, for their ſinnes: and how the Papiſticall Purgatory and ſatiſfactions doe diſagree altogether from the promiſes of god, & the remiſsion of ſinnes by Ieſus Chriſt, It ſhalbe declared in lyke maner for what cauſe God doth chaſtiſe and puniſh the faythfull in this world, and not in the other: what are the good workes, and wherefore God will iudge men by them: and how we muſt watch and do penaunce, and trauayle whilſt we are in this lyfe, without truſting vppon the good deedes that other will doe for vsus after our death. Item, what are the good deeds that we ought to doe for the dead, and wherein we may ſuccour & helpe them, and the great iniury & wrong that the Popes and the Prieſtes doe vntounto Ieſus Chriſt, and to all the Chriſtian people, holding them in the ſincke and dungeon of their peruerſe doctrine and traditions: What fiſhermen they are, and what their flouds and ryuers are wherein they fiſh and catch the golde and ſiluer and not the men: what are their relicks and holy bodyes: and how they do abuſe the dead bodyes to the great diſhonour of God and of his Saints as the Coniurers and Sorcerers doe. And wherto ſerueth all that which is done at the burialls, and chiefely to thoſe which are buried in the habite or coole of Saint Fraunces. And in the ende we declare how Ieſus Chriſt contayneth in himſelfe all that which is needefull for vsus, both in lyfe and death.
For to enter then into the matter, Theophilus bringeth the other in order.