Pseudo-Martyr, Chapter 3 · Part 3
THE THIRD PART OF PVRGATORY.
AS Morbizan the Turke, being mooued by a Bul of Pius 2. by which he granted Indulgences to all thē,Historiae & ali… impressa. ante Alcoran. fo. 99. that would take Armes against him, by a Letter to the Pope; required him to call in his Epigrammes againe:Casabonus pre…atio de libe…. Eccl. And as a great learned man of this time calls Panlus the fifts Excommunication against the Venetians,De purg. L. 2. c. 18 §. Ad quint. Hymno de nouo lumine pasch. Sabba. Dirum Carmen: And as Bellarmine saies of Prudentius, when he appoints certain Holydaies in Hect, Paenarum celebres sub styge feriae, That he did but play More poetico: So all discourse of Purgatorie seemes to me to bee but the Mythologie of the Romane Church, and a morall application of pious and vseful f…bles.
2 To which opinion Canus expresses himselfe to hauehave an inclination, when he saies,L. 11. c. 6. That men otherwise very graue, have gathered vp rumours, and transmitted them to posterity, either too indulgent to themselues, or to the people: and that Noble Authors hauehave beene content to thinke, that that was the true law of History, to write those things which the common people thought to be true: And this censure he forbears not to lay vponupon Gregory, and Bede, by which two, so many fabulous things were conuaied to posterity. To which ingenuity in Canus, Lypsius his Champion saies,Pal. estrita Honoris. Anastas Cochelet. fo. 285. That he preferres Gregory and Bede before Canus, for opinion and iudgement … But in this, onelyonly their discretion, and an abstinence from a slippery and inconsiderate creduli…ie is in q…estion: and euen in matter of iudgement, in as good iudgement as this Authour hat…, Canus w…l… iustly enough in that Church hauehave a good …oo me. And if this Authour, as hee pre…ends …n that pl…ce, acc…pt none of these fables, but such as the authoritie and iudgement of the Church hath approued, either many of the Stories must loose their credit, or els the Popes that approued them.
3 Who hauehave beene wisely and prouidently most liberall, and carefull to affoord most of that sustentation of Approuing, to …hose things that were of themselues most weake and indeffensible… so: so S. Brigids Reuelations are not onelyonly approued by Boniface the ninth,Paleotus de Syndone, par. 1. Ep. lectori. but confirmed by Martin the fift: Both which hauing concurred to her canonization, one reason why it was done, on her part,Reuel. Brigid. Bull Canone. Bonif. 9. is, because at her marriage, being at thirteene yeares of age, and her husband eighteene, she vowed one yeares continency; and the reason on the Popes part was: That there might some goodnesse proceede out of the North for she was o… Swethland.Par. Crassus de cerem. Epis. & Cardin. l. 1. c. 39… According to which superstition, in their Mysterious ceremonies, when the Gospell is song, all other parts being done towards the East, hee must turne to the North, from whence all euill is deriued, and where the Diuels dwell.
But for all their barbarous and prophane despite and contumelies, which they impute (not to the Diuell) but to Princes, and all sorte of people beyond their Hilles, their Stories are full of the memorie of Benefites which Sea hath receiued from Northern Princes,To. 3. par. 2. fo. 1052. B. and Binius confesses, that the remote and Northerne people, did so much honour the Romane Church, that whomsoeuer they hea…ed to sit in that Chaire, and to be Pope, though but in name, without any discussion of his entrance, they reuerenced him as S. Peter himselfe, which (saies he) is a wonderfull thing to be spoken. Which imputation since Binius laies vponupon Northerne Catholiques, they are fairely warned to bee more circumspect in their obsequiousnesse to that Church, without discussing the persons, and the matter which is commaunded them.
4 But to returne to this Comique-Tragicall doctrine of Purgatory, if Canus weigh nothing with them:Epist. Rutbalo. Reg. Secret. ante Dial. Luciani. Sir Thomas Moore, of whose firmenesse to the integrity of the Romane fa…th, that C…urch neede not be ashamed, intimates as much, when he saies, That hee therefore vn…ertooke to transl…te Lucianus Dialogue Philopseudes, to deliuer the world from superstition: which was crept in vnderunder Religion: For (saies he) superstitious lies hauehave beene tolde with so much authority, that a Cosoner was able to perswade S. Augustine, thog… a graue man, & a vehement enemy of lies, that a tale which Lucian had before derided in this Dialogue, was thē newly done in his daies. Some therfore think… (saies he) that they hauehave made Christ beholden to them for euer, if they inuent a fable of some Saint, or some Tragedie of hell, to make an olde woman weepe or tremble So that scarce the life of any Martyr or virgine …ath escaped their lies, which makes me suspect, that a great part of those fables, hath beene ins…rted by Heretiques, by mingling therof to withdraw the credite due to Christian Histories.
5 And in our daies, Philip Nerius the Institutor of the last Order amongst them, who was so familiar in heauen, whilst hee liued vponupon earth, that aVita eius. fo. 17. & 24. & 57.he was faine to intreat God to depart further from him, And bfo. 33.to draw back his minde from heauenly matters, and turne them vponupon earthly, before he was able to say Masse, And cfo., 83.could heare the Musique and Symphonie of the Angels, And could distinguish any vertue, or any vice, by his smelling, This man I say was euer an enemie to these Apparitions: and vsed to say, That God would not take it ill, fo. 107.not to be beleeued, though he should truly appeare to vsus in any shape. And to a Scholler that tolde him that our Lady appeared to him in the night,fo. 108. he said, next time she comes, spit in her face, which he did, and found it to be the diuell. Nor did hee easily beleeue possessions,fo 229. but referred it commonly to the indispositions of the body: and suspecting iustly the same diffidence in others, which he found in himselfe,fo. 488. hee prayed to God, that he would worke no miracles by him.
6 So that not onelyonly for feare of illusions, and mistaking bad spirits for good, (for for that, their greatest Authors which hauehave writ of that subiect, euen in these cleare & curious times, are still confident, that An euill spirit, what shape so euer hee appeare in, Binsfeldius. de confel. Sa…ar. fo. 67. & 68 Menghi. fust. Daemo. c. 8.may be knowne by his feete or hands, And that he is euer notoriously deformed either by a Tayle, or by Hornes, And that hee will van…sh, if one vse him, as Friar Ruffin did, Ibidem.who when the diuell appeared to him ordinarily in the forme of Christ crucified, by S. Francis his counsaile, said to him: Open thy mouth, & implebo stercore, and thereupon was deliuered from that apparition. And some of their saddest Diuines, hauehave eased them thus much in any such perplexitie,Vasques de Adorati. that to worship the diuell himselfe in such a forme, with opinion that it were God, is not Idolatry,) not onelyonly for these inconueniences, but euen for a generall infamy and suspition, that these apparitions which begot Purgatorie hauehave in them, the more moderate sort of Catholiques hauehave declined from any great approuing of them.
7 Yea Serarius, though of that order that hath lost all ingenuity, confesses from Baronius and Villa Vincentius, Litan. l. 2. ca. 2. N. 3. Ibid. N. 4.that in these legends, in their Histories there are vaine and vitious relations, and that the pictures of those Saints, are but Symbolicall.Sedul. Apol. pro libro. Con…or. l. 1.….20. N. 7. And Sedulius acknowledges, that, that storie in the booke of Conformities, that S. Francis was seene to goe out of the wound in Christs side with a banner, and a great Armie, is but figuratiue. Of which, sayes he, there are many so highly mysterious, that it is not fit to discouer and explicate them to the wicked. So that these Mirabilarij & Mythologistes of that Church, wil solemnly reserue these their Arcana Ecclesiae to themselues, and shall without any enuie from vsus.
8 And yet I denie not, but that in sober antiquitie, and in the grauest Fathers, there are some impressions, which occasioned this error, of purifying soules after this life, As Bellarmine sayes truly,De Pont. l. 4. c. 8. § Q…ia. that for the most part, lies hauehave their foundation vponupon some truth; For it was very long in the Church of God, before the state of the soule after our death, was cleare, and constant and vniforme: the Fathers being diuided in their opinions, whether our soules enioyed perfect happinesse presently, or expected and attended it till the generall iudgement. And the phrase and language, in which sometimes they spoke of the last consummation of our happinesse, in the re-vnion of the body and soule, being obscure, and various, gaue occasion of doubting, that they reserued and adiourn'd all our happinesse till that time. And that which they meant of that perfect and consummate happinesse, not to bee enioyed till then, hath beene mis-vnderstood, or detorted to the soule alone. And by such irresolution in some, and perplexity in collating their opinions, and misapplying their words, hauehave been imprinted indelible characters of Purgatorie, and of prayer for the dead, of whose condition in the next worlde, they were not t…roughly assured.
9 If any of the Fathers hauehave strayed farther then so, to speak doubtfully of some such thing as Purgatorie: Wee will not say, as you doe, aIn…. Expurg. belg. fo. 12.Let vsus excuse it, or extenuate it, or denie it by some deuise, or faine some other conuenient sense, when it is opposed in Disputation. Dist. 4 statuimus. gloss.Nor dare we obtrude a contrarie exposition, as you doe, when you make Pope Telesphorus instituting the Quinquag…sima for the Clergy, by his worde Statuimus, to meane Abrogamus;Dist. 12. quis nesciat glos. Or when Pope Innocent writes to Decentius a Bishop, that it is not reade, that in all Italie, France, Spaine, Affrique, and the Ilands, there was Alius Apostolus prae…er Petrum, to make him meane by Alius Contrarius; which the glosse vponupon the glosse in the Margine mis-likes, because no Apostle was contrarie to Peter, and therefore makes the Pope to meane; that there was no other Apostle in those places, then Peter, or such as he sent. Ind. expur. belg. fo. 18.We dare not correct so boldly as to make Bertram, who for 800. yeares together had said Visibiliter, now to say Inuisibiliter. Wee dare not hope to scape with such a small insertion,Index. Hisp. …o.. 66. as Non, which you hauehave intruded to the destruction of Didacus Stellaes sense, in his Commentarie vppon Saint Luke, and in Eucherius his Commentarie vppon Genesis.Idem. fo. 92.
Wee dare not steale out that little particle, to alter the whole intention of him that hath it; as Bellarmine hath done,De Matrimo. l. 1. C. 5. §. vbi tamen. 27. q. 2. Cum societas. out of a sentence cited by Gratian, out of Leo, by which Mariage is no Sacrament, if, Non, be admitted. Wee will not be so vnnaturall to the Fathers, as Bellarmine makes the Pope to be,De pont. l. 2. c. 27. §. …espond…o i…as. when being pressed by Nilus, to followe in the question of the Primacie, the opinion of the Fathers, sayes, that the Pope hath no Fathers in the Church, but that they are all his Sonnes. Nor can wee exceede Bellarmine in dis-esteeming the Fathers, who hath called in question some bookes of almost euerie one of them, as Clement, Anicetus, Cyprian, Tertullian, Ambrose, Augustine, Hierome, Damasus, Damascen, Basil, Iustine, Nyssene, Honorius, Eusebius, Chrysostome and others.
And when Damascene cites out of Palladius, That a dead scull beeing asked, whether our Prayers did them any good in hell, aunswered, that it brought them some ease and relaxation, Bellarmine sayes, This is false, and Apocryphall, and that there is no such thing in Paladius: De Purgat. l. 2. C. 18 §. preterea. & §. Ad quartum. De verbo Dei. l. 3. C. 10. §. dic…ns.So ill a Patrone is hee, of Damascenes credite heerein. Nor doth hee onelyonly indefinitely say of the Fathers, That it is euident that some of the chiefest of them hauehave grieuously erred, but as of Tertullian, who imputes Montanisme to Pope Zephirine, hee sayes,De Pont. l. 4. c. 8. §. respondeo. De penitent. l. 1. c. 1. §. igitur. There is no faith at all to be giuen to him, And in another place somewhat more sharply; Wee doe not reckon Tertullian amongst the Catholiques, So doth he to very many of the other Fathers, boldly impute such errours, as would vitiate any Author not to hauehave but obserued them, and for touching whereof the Centuriators are by him accounted prophane and blasphemous. So also doth Medina say,De Sacro. homin. Orig. & contin. l. 1. …a. 5. That Hierome, Ambrose, Augustine, Sedulius, Primasius, Chrysostome, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophilact, and others, were of the same opinion as Aerius was, and the Waldenses, and Wickliffe.
36. q. 2. placuit.10 But as Gratian preferred Hierome before a Councell, because hee had Scripture on his side, And as your Expurgatorie Index (which I cite so often,Ind. Hispa fo. 146. because no booke of equall authoritie, doth shew so well your corrupt doctrine, that is, what you cannot endure to heare, and your indirect practise, to make Authors speake your words) addes to one Author in the Margine, Wee must giuegive no credit to these words of Eusebius, Fo. 147.and after; This opinion of Iustin, and of Epiphanius, is not true: So, if for the defence of Purgatorie, in the full sense of the Trent Councell, you obtrude any Father (which yet I professe that I hauehave neuer seene) if that Father be destitute of the support of Scripture, you must allow vsus, some of that libertie which you take, since we are more modest in the vse thereof then you are.
11 For we need not (euen by your frequent examples,) binde our selues to that seruility, which your Azorius subiects himselfe vntounto:Moral. In…tit. Par. 1. l. 11. C. 14. §. Secundo quaeritur. who disputing of the immolation of Iepthes daughter, confessing, That it is not euident, that she was killed, nor likely; nor that she could be comprehended in that vow, any more then any vncleane thing which might hauehave met him, and That the contrarie is more Analogall to the other places of Scripture, and that the Rabbines, Lyra, and some other Catholiques, denie her death, yet, saies he, because we are bound (that is, by the oath of the Trent Councell) to expound Scriptures according to the sense of the Fathers, I thinke we ought to adhere to the opinion that she was slaine. But if the sense of the Fathers did not stand in my way, to confesse the truth, I should approue the other opinion, because that deliuers so great a person as Iephthe was, both from rashnesse and foolishnesse in making the vow, and from impietie and cruelty in keeping it.
12 This bondage and yoake we need not cast vponupon our selues, but may lawfully take Chrisostomes libertie,D… militia spirituali Ho. 4. To. 5. fo. 209. (since our cause is better then his, for hee dis-approued all Oathes) Neuer produce to me, saies that Father, this Saint or this chaste man, or this milde man, or this Priest; for if you tell mee of Peter, and Paul, or of an Angell from Heauen, you shall not thereby terrifie me with the dignitie of the persons.
13 The Fathers which must gouerne in these points, must not be the Fathers of the Societie; but they must be Patres Patrati; Fathers which hauehave Fathers; that is, whose words are propagated from the Apostles. Of which sort of Fathers, in my poore reading, I neuer found any that consented with the Doctrine of Purgatorie now established.
14 In which, that which we principally complaine of at this time, is, that it incites to this false martyrdome. Not but that they confesse, that there are also some other wayes besides martyrdome to escape Purgatorie; else how got Lypsius so soone to heauen?Pa…tri…a Hono…is fo. 1. for as soone as his Champian Cochelet calls him, Lypsius aunswers, Wee that are receaued into heauen, doe not despise our fellowes: And that powerfull Indulgence (which, though Saint Francis obtained immediately from Christ, Sedulius Apolo. contr. Alcura. l. 1. C. 16. N. 4. & 6.yet Christ sent him to aske it againe, at the Popes hands, because, sayes Sedulius, hee would not derogate from the power, which he had deliuered to his Vicar) deliuers as many as doe but come to a certaine place, from all sinne, and danger of Purgatorie. All which die in that Order, l. 2. c. 9. N. 1.are saued; l. 2. C. 11. N. 4.yea, All which louelove that Order hartily, how great a sinner soeuer he be, shall hauehave merciemercy. l. 1. C. 19. N. 3.And yearely on his birthday, all which are in purgatory, especially of his Order, flie vp to heauen. And hee himselfe carried aboue 1000. away with him from thence, Ibidem.when he went. At one Masse, at the Commemoration of the Dead, a Friar saw soules flie from Purgatorie as thicke as sparks from a furnace. l. 3. C. 21. N. 4.and this Masse he celebrated eueryevery day, and so did infinite others.Ibid. N. 7. If then that Friar made a true relation of the state of Purgatorie in his time, That of 5000 which died in the world since his comming thether, there came but three to that place, there is no great vse of heaping so much treasure, for that imployment, since by these computations, neither the Number can bee great, nor the st…y long.
15 And if the authoritie of this Sedulius seeme light,In fi…e libri. yet his booke is dignified with this Approbation, That the impudency of Heretiques, may bee beat backe, with most firme arguments, and with most cleare reasons) Soto might weigh more;4. Sent. dist. 19. q. 3. ar. 2. who considering the intensnes of the fire of Purgatory, thinkes none shall remaine there aboue tenne yeares. But for all this Bellarmine saies, That by most certaine apparitions it is euident, De purgat. l 2. c. 9. §. Preter…a.that some soules already there, De Indulg. l. 2. c. 2. §. Sed primūshall remaine there till the day of iudgement: And though hee make an impertinent doubt,De Indulg. l. 1. c. 9. §. Respontio. Whether euer any Popes hauehave graunted Indulgences for many thousand yeares, yet in another place he assignes certain reasons, why conueniently the Popes may do so; because the penitentiall Canons inflict many yeares punishment, for diuers sinnes which many men cōmit often eueryevery day. But of this the Popes are so lib…ral (though it is impossible they should keepe any iust Audit, or account since they neither know what they receiue, nor what they lay out) that they will put in 1000. yeares more rather thē remit that six pence, which you must paie, not for the pardon, but for the paper.Turselinus Iesuit Histor. laurel. l 1. C…. 22. And therefore Martin 5. had a iust and proportionall respect to the nature of this ware, when he appointed a yearly Faire, and yearely Indulgence, both of three moneths continuance, to be kept together at Loretta; and that the Priests and Merchants should open and shut vp shoppes together.
17 But Martyrdome is of much more value, then these Indulgences, because it is infallible for, some incapacity, and indisposition in the partie, may hinder the working of an Indulgence, but Martyredome cannot faile of the effect, to worke our deliuerance, as appeared by that which we cyted out of Bellarmine in the end of the last part of Merite. And therfore that doctrine, which teaches such a Purgatory as you speak of, incytes to such a Martyrdome, as we speake of, & disapproue.
18 Hauing therefore proceeded thus farre, That the purest and acceptablest Sacrifice which we can offer to God, which is our liues, may be corrupted and enuenomed with di…tastefull mixtures, and that euen in the deuotedst and safest times, it fell out, not seldome to be so; And that our corruption now is more obnoxious and apter to admitte and inuite such poys…nous ingredients, and temporall respects, then in those purer times, especially in the Romane Church, which misinflames the minde to false Martyredome, both by depressing and trampling vppon the dignity of Princes, and maintayning eueryevery litigious clause of Ecclesiastique immunity with our blood; And also by extolling our owne Merites, and encouraging vsus thereby, to trafique, though with losse of our life, for the benefit and aduancement of the treasury of that Church; And lastly by the certaine…y, seuerenesse, and length of Purgatory, which are infallibly hereby auoided: the next thing which I present to your discourse, and consideration, is, That the Iesuites more then any other Order, claim to themselues a greater forwardnesse, and alacrity to this, and are therefore busier and apter to prouoke seuere lawes, against themselues, and to incurre the dangers thereof.