Faith Grounded Upon the Holy Scriptures Against the New Methodists, Part 3 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. That the Scripture doth not teach in any part of it the fire of Purgatory.
1. LEt us come now to the fire of Purgatory, where they will have the Souls of the faithful ſatisfie for the temporal puniſhment of their ſins, before they enter Heaven. 'Tis ſad to ſee them ſweat to finde in the Scripture ſomething wherewith to blow up light, and maintain this fire. For this Opinion impaſſions them in ſuch a manner, that they that ſee it in all the places, where a Pit, a Lake, a Priſon, a Goal, a Fire, purging, refining, a refining pot, &c. are ſpoken of. The Lord propoſing to us the form of the true Sancitification required in his Church, in the 5th of St. Matthew, Matth. 5.25, 26.Commands us amongſt other things to have a heart clean from all hatred, malice, anger towards our neighbours, threatning them with grievous torments who ſhall never ſo little offend them; proteſting that nothing ought to be in more commendation than to live in concord and good friendſhip with them, adding, Agree thou with thine adverſary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, for fear that thine adverſary ſhould deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer, and thou be put into Priſon; verily I ſay unto thee, that thou ſhalt not come out thence till thou haſt paid the laſt farthing. This Priſon ſay they, is the Purgatory. But who ſeeth not that this is to ſuppoſe, & not to prove it? For why ſhould we underſtand Purgatory by this Priſon, rather than a true properly named Priſon, where the wicked Pay-maſters and Cheaters are often put for their ſtubborneſs, with much loſs and ſcandal, which they might eſcape in agreeing lovingly and betimes with their Adverſeparty, Chryſoſt. Theophyl. Euthym. upon this paſſage. Barrad. Harmon. Evang. T. 2.1.7. c. 17.as our Lord Commands in this place, and the Apoſtle in the firſt Epiſtle to the Corinthians? St. Chryſoſtom and many others take it ſimply ſo, and even this Jeſuit Barradius. But if one would take the paſſage Allegorically, as an Image of the Judgments of God againſt them who will not uſe charity towards their Brethren; why ſhould not we underſtand by this Priſon either the chaſtiſements in which our Lord locks up ſometimes men in this life for having neglected the duties of Charity towards their Neighbours, or even the pains of Hell, in which he will confine for ever after this life, all thoſe who have not uſed mercy towards their Brethren, Maldon. Mat. 5.25. To let. in Luke 12. Annot. 86. & 89. Janſen. Concord, Evang. c. 40. Stella in Luc. T. 2. c. 12. See alſo Salmeron. T. 5. Tractat 37.as the Jeſuit Maldonat, Cardinal Tolett, Biſhop Janſenius expound it, who confeſs ingeniouſly that this place cannot be urged for Purgatory, and the Cordelier Stella, confeſſing (that which is indeed moſt evident) that theſe words, Thou ſhalt pay the last farthing, ſimply ſignifie, Thou ſhalt be puniſht to the rigour, they ſhall not pardon thee any thing; ſo that they do not infer by any means that the Criminal of whom this diſpute is, ought at any time to go out of priſon; but they ſuppoſe only that he ſhall go out if he pays the laſt farthing of his debt, and by conſequence he ſhall never go out if he cannot pay it? And as as to that which is ſaid, that he to whom we have not uſed Charity ſhall be our enemy, and ſhall deliver us to the Judge, 'tis the ſame manner of ſpeaking, like that in the Proverbs, and repeated in the Epiſtle to the Romans, that he who doth good to his enemy, Prov. 15.21. Rom. 12.20. Luke 16.9.heaps coals of fire on his head; and like that in the fixth of St. Luke, That thoſe to whom we give alms receive us into eternal habitations; where the Scripture ſaith, that he doth a thing, which is the reaſon for which he doth it, although to ſpeak properly and exactly he doth not do it.
Secondly, They abuſe alſo the words of the Lord, where he ſaith, that the blaſphemy againſt the Holy Ghost ſhall not be forgiven, Matt. 12.32.neither in this age, nor in the other; that is to ſay (add they) neither in this life, nor in Purgatory. But why ſhould not we rather ſay, that by the age to come, the Lord according to the Style of the Scriptures, underſtands the Age which ſhall follow after the Reſurrection from the dead? and that it ſignifieth, that God will never pardon this crime to the men who are guilty of it, neither now, nor at the laſt Judgment? that he will never give them abſolution for it, neither in this life by the voice of his Spirit in their hearts, nor in the other by the mouth of his Son? Or why do not we ſay, that he means that this ſin ſhall be grievouſly and irreſiſtably puniſhed, as well in this Age with temporal pains, as in the other with eternal? For as remitting or pardoning a ſin ſignifieth not to puniſh, ſo the not pardoning it ſignifieth to puniſh it; yea, to puniſh it grievouſly and certainly. In that great day the Lord will alſo remit the ſins to the faithful, but not to impenitent ſinners; and beſides what the thing ſaith of its ſelf, St. Paul teſtifieth it expreſly, where he prays God to have mercy on the houſe of Oneſiphorus in that day; 2 Tim. 1.18. Acts 1.19, 20.and St. Peter, where he exhorts the Jews to believe to the end, that their ſins might be blotted out in the time of the refreſhment of the Lord.
Thirdly, 1 Cor 3.15.The moſt part of the Adverſaries turn to the Service of their Purgatory, that which St. Paul writes in the firſt to the Corinthians, If the work of any one be burnt, he ſhall ſuffer loſs: but he ſhall be ſaved, yet as amidſt the fire, or rather by the fire, pretending that this fire is that of Purgatory. But firſt, this paſſage by the common conſent of Ancients and Moderns, is reckoned amongſt the obſcure and Allegorical, and by Conſequence not proper to ground an Article of Faith upon. Secondly, I ſay, that nothing can force us to take it for Purgatory. For to leave the Expoſitions of Chryſoſtom, of St. Auguſtin, and of many others which take it otherwiſe, why ſhall we not rather underſtand it of the Judgment, which God ſhall make at the laſt day, of the Doctrine of thoſe Preachers, who having retained the foundation of the Goſpel, have built upon it vain Beliefs, which ſhall be reprehended by the light of the Advent of Jeſus Chriſt, but in ſuch manner, Amos 4.11.that loſing the liking and praiſe of their own works, they themſelves ſhall not periſh? their works ſhall periſh and not their perſons, which ſhall be ſaved; but nevertheleſs as plucked out of the fire, that is to ſay, very hardly, Paraphraſe upon the Epiſtles of St. Paul to the Corinth. Gal. & Eph. Printed by Touſs du Bray. An. 1632. with Priviledge and Approbation.as if they eſcaped from a fire; as a fire-brand reſcued from the burning, as Amos ſaith; and in ſuch manner that they ſhall hold their Souls for a prey, being obliged only to the bounty and Divine mercy for not having been devoured together with their works by the heat of that conſuming fire which ſhall trie all men, as many Learned men expound it, and even the Author of the French Paraphraſe upon the Epiſtle to the Corinthians, Publiſhed lately at Paris, and approved by three Doctors of Sorbonne.
Fourthly, They have alſo-recourſe to the Old Teſtament, and alledge, that the Lord in Zechary promiſed, Zech. 9.11.That he would draw his priſoners out of the lake in which there is no water. Theſe are (ſay they) the Spirits which ſuffer in Purgatory. But this is to play and not to reaſon. For what is there in the Text of the Prophet which obligeth us to take this Lake for Purgatory? I leave the literal Interpretation, which underſtands it to be the Captivity and calamity of the Jews deprived of the refreſhments of the Divine word, and of the exerciſes of their Religion: If we muſt Allegorize, why ſhould not we rather bring this paſſage to the eternal redemption which the Lord Jeſus hath acquired to us by his blood, drawing his myſtical Iſrael (that is to ſay) his Church from the ſad and pitiful condition, where it was naturally, being a priſoner of the Devil, a ſlave of ſin, and guilty of the wrath of God, the true Lake where there is no water, ſince in that ſtate there is no confolation; whereas the Souls which they ſhut up in their Purgatory, notwithſtanding their griefs, have according to what they ſay, Bellar. of Purgl. 2. c. 4.an incredible conſolation, becauſe of the certain hope of their Salvation.