An Antidote Against Popery, Treatise · Chapter 8
CHAPTER VIII. Of Purgatorie.
The state of the Question.
WEE denye not that the godly manie wayes, and oftymes suffer heere, and hauehave by the Hand of their wyse and mercifull Father, castigatorie and emendatorie punishments inflicted vponupon them in this lyfe, which may justlie bee called Medicinall benefits, fardering their mortification, and tending to their good, as DAVID professeth:Psal. 119.71 Hebr. 12.10 and the Apostle teacheth, that they may bee made partakers of the LORD'S holinesse. But wee denye, that these are expiations, or that they suffer anie punishment for their sinnes at all after this lyfe; especiallie of such a satisfactorie qualitie, as the Councell of Trent mentioneth,Sess. 9 sub Pio 4. and as the Romanistes hauehave forged, in the fire of Purgatorie, which they define to bee a hellish prison, wherein the soules of the godlie are purged after this lyfe, which were not fullie purged heere, by enduring a temporall punishment for their mortall sins there, and satisfying for their veniall. And wherein they are so peremptorie, that they affirme, that whosoever believeth not this fire to bee,Bell. lib. 1. de Purg. cap. 3 §. Ad septimum their soules in Hells fire shall bee tormented for ever. Notwithstanding that this meane of purging of soules, or their going to anie such place after death, is flat agaynst Scripture.
1. Authoritie of Scripture.
1. IOHN 1.7. And the blood of IESƲS CHRIST His Sonne, purgeth vsus from all sinne.
That is (say the Rhemistes themselues) from Originall & Actuall, Veniall and Mortall, from the fault and paine due for the same.Lomb lib. 3. sent. dist. 19. Bell. lib. 2. de indulg. cap. 5 §. At non. In lyke-manner, (sayeth Lombard) CHRIST by His death, and by that one true Sacrifice of His, hath abolished WHAT-SO-EVER faults wee had, whereby wee were holden by Satan to vndergoe punishment. And more particularlie (sayeth Bellarmine,) The sufferings of CHRIST are able to expiate all sinne, originall & actuall, mortall and veniall, and all punishment, eternall and temporall: and all this by it selfe alone.Chap. 15. 1. … All which these sufferings doe not onlie performe, when in Baptisme wee are first reconciled with GOD, but also thereafter (as the Rhemistes on this same place confesse) when wee repent of our sinnes committed after our first reconciliation, notwithstanding of these calamimities that hauehave come vponupon the godlie thereafter, as vponupon DAVID, and others: For Infants after Baptisme, are subject to the lyke temporall calamities. As sicknesses & death it selfe, as well as those who actuallie sinne after Baptisme, and are of riper age: so that, if such common calamities, or chastisements should argue no plenarie pardon of sinnes committed after reconciliation in those who are of age, then should it argue the lyke also in Infants, and so there should no plenarie pardon bee of all: which were to derogate greatlie from the vertue of the sufferings of CHRIST, and from the LORDS merciemercy in lyke-manner, and so to make the Father of mercies in mercifulnesse farre inferiour to man, and that hee requyreth of vsus, in free and in full pardoning, a farre greater perfection of merciemercy than hee hath in himselfe.
The sufferings of CHRIST then beeing of an infinite value (sayeth Durand and Mairones cited by Bellarmine) to joyne therefore,Bell. lib. 1. de indulg. cap. 4 §. Tertia. Chrysost. in Rom. Hom. 8. the satisfactions of the sufferings of the godlie thereto, is altogether superfluous, for as where there is grace, there is pardon, so where there is pardon (sayeth Chrysostome) there is no punishment at all, to wit, satisfactorie.
PSAL. 73.24. Thou wilt guyde mee with thy counsell, and afterward receaue mee vp into Glorie.
Remarke, then, that after the finishing of this lyfe, wherein the godlie are guyded by the councell of GOD,Aug. medit c. 22. & lib 20. de Civit DEI, c. 15. Pros. l. 1. de vita cōtem plativa. cap. 1 and His Grace; immediatlie followeth the receaving vp of their soules to Glorie. Therefore (sayeth Augustine) O happie Soule, who HOW SOONE it is loosed from the bodie, beeing set at libertie, PRESENTLIE goeth to Heaven, and is secure at rest.
In lyke-manner sayeth Prosper of the godlie, that having ended their paynfull pilgrimage, presentlie thence-foorth they raygne happie (sayeth hee) in their natiue countrey.
2. COR. 5.1. For wee know, that if our earthlie house of this tabernacle bee dissolved, we hauehave a building of GOD, a house not made with handes, eternall in the Heavens.
VponUpon which wordes sayeth Anselme, We know that PRESENTLIE wee hauehave from GOD a building, that is, a blessed Mansion place.
Bel…. l. 1. d… sanct. cap. 3Yea, in lyke-manner, (sayeth Bellarmine himselfe) The Apostle's reasoning is most excellent, to wit, this, if this mortall lyfe perish, (sayeth hee) wee hauehave presentlie another farre better in the Heavens.
REVEL. 14.13. Blessed are the dead which die in the LORD, from hence-foorth now, sayeth the Spirit: for they rest from their laboures, and their workes follow them.
VponUpon which wordes, (sayeth the Iesuit Ribera) It is almost the common exposition of all, which Andreas Caesariensis followeth, that these wordes are spoken of all the godlie, (and not onlie of Martyres) therefore Beda sayeth, I thanke thee, O IESV, who makest them blessed in Heaven, (not in Purgatorie) who die in thee on earth:Rom. 8.1. And 16.11 7 how much more these, who lay downe their happie soules both in Thy faith, and for Thy faith? And this exposition Ribera proveth to bee true, by sundrie lyke speaches of Scripture,Gal. 1 22 Iohn 15.4 5 and by the custome of the Church which in her publicke offices for the dead vnderstandeth the same so; and therefore hee calleth it, the most fit and convenient meaning, because it cōprehendeth them that die for the LORD, (as Martyres) and extendeth it selfe also vntounto all others the godlie who-so-ever.Bern. ad milites Templi. cap. 2 …p. 98. Thus also doeth Primasuis, Aretas Caesariensis, Bernard, Haymo, and the Iesuit Lorinus, expone these wordes.
Next, (à modo) or from hence foorth Ribera exponeth, from the verie tyme of their death, as Ambrose, Haymo, and Beda, expone (sayeth hee) who therefore brings that of the PSALMIST,Psal. 127. when Hee hath given vntounto His well-beloved their sleepe, beholde, the inheritance of the LORD.
COL. 1.20. Having made peace through the blood of His Grosse by Him, to reconcile all thinges vntounto Himselfe, whether they bee thinges in Earth, or in Heaven.
Whence wee see, that the Apostle distinguisheth the Church, which is reconciled to GOD by CHRIST, into that which is on Earth, and that which is in Heaven: but of anie part there-of in Hell, hee speaketh not at all. There-fore, that reconciliation which was made by CHRIST'S Blood, belongeth not to anie who are there, eyther in Limbus, or Purgatorie.
Agayne, 2. COR. 4.18. These thinges that are seene, are Temporall; and these thinges which are not seene, are Aeternall. Whence it followeth, that there is no invisible place after this lyfe, which is not eternall, and consequentlie, there is no Purgatorie.
In lyke manner (sayeth Andreas Casariensis, and with him Aretus) Their verie departure out of the bodie, is this resting from their laboures: and therefore, from hence-foorth, that is, from the verie tyme of their death is signified, sayeth Richardus de sancto Victor.
Wherefore, (sayeth Cyprian) O what dignitie and securitie is it,Cyprian. de exhort. Martyrii cap. …lt. in a moment to close thy eyes, whereby men in the world are seene, and to open them instantlie, that GOD and CHRIST may bee seene… O what great happinesse is it, to bee speedilie pulled from the earth, that thou mayest Presentlie bee placed in Heaven! Last of all, to rest from their labours, is, (as Beda calleth it) to bee blessed in Heaven: and not as the Rhemists expone it, To bee discharged of the troubles of this lyfe. For this were a miserable Rest, to bee fred of such, and yet to bee tormented with hellish paynes after this lyfe.
2. COR. 5.8. Wee are confident, I say, and willing, rather to bee absent from the body, and to bee present with the Lord. So also PHILIP. 1.23. I desire to bee dissolved, and to bee with CHRIST.
Whence wee reason thus, They who are with the LORD, or with CHRIST, are in no place of torment, (for to bee with CHRIST, is to bee in Paradise, as hee sayde to the Thiefe.) But the godlie Soules presentlie after their beeing absent from the bodie, which is by death and dissolution, are present with the LORD, or with CHRIST, as the Apostl's words import, and the Rhemists confesse. Therefore they are in no place of Torment.
Therefore doeth Tertullian adde the particle of tyme, saying,Tertul. de patiētio c. 9. & de spectaculis c. 28. I desire, sayeth the Apostle) jam recipi, even now, to bee receaved, and to bee with CHRIST.
2. Witnessing of Antiquitie.
THE Church then, (sayeth Augustine) doeth know twoTract. 124. in Io…an. sorts of lyues, which are from GOD preached and …ecommended to her, where-of one is by fayth, the other by fight: the one in the tyme of her Pilgrimage, the other in the tyme of her Mansion: the one in labour, the other in rest: the one in the way, the other in her natiue countrey. But no mention of anie third sort of lyfe, of such who are neyther in blesse, nor rest, nor in their countrey:…phes 1.10. even as the Apostle distinguisheth the Church, eyther beeing on earth, or in Heaven. And as the primitiue Church (by Bellarmines witnessing) defended themselues agaynst the Donatistes, Bel. l. 3. de Eccles c. 9.that they made not two Churches, one vponupon earth, and another in Heaven; but distinguished the two times or estates of the Church; the one Militant, and the other Triumphant: no word b…ng then of the Popish …ripartition, o… a third, in Purgatorie.
And most excellentlie sayeth Iustine Martyr. Iust. Mar. q. 75. So Greg. Nazian. an Orat. funcbri in laudē Caesarii fratris. Chrysost. hom. 3. ad. philip. & Aug. l. 13. de civit. Dei, c. 8. Ephrem tom. 1. Tract. de mansio, heat.Thus after the departure of the soule from the bodie, presentlie is made a distinction betweene the good and the evill; for they are carried to the places whereof they are worthie: the soules of the godlie by the Angels beeing carried to Paradise, where the companie and sight of Angels, and Arch-angels is, as also the sight of CHRIST our Saviour, according to these words, While wee are absent from the bodie, wee are present with the LORD. But the soules of the wicked are carried to Hell, (sayeth hee.) Neyther hath the Scripture taught vsus, (sayeth Ephrem) that there are three places.
3. Confession of partie.
WEE are certayne,Aquinas in 1. C… 5.1. (sayeth Aquina… ) if our earthlie house wherein wee dwell heere, that is, our bodie bee dissolved, and turne to corruption by death, wee hauehave Presentlie, not in hope, but in reall possession, a better house, not made with handes, that is, heavenlie glorie, whereof our Saviour sayde, In my Fathers house, are manie mansions.
Bel. l. 1. de sanct. c. 4. Areopag. de Eccles. Hier. c. 7.Bellarmine also, after the reciting of this Testimonie of Dionysius Areopagita, which sayeth thus, The sayncts in their death, know surelie, that whollie they shall attayne to rest, and a full conformitie with CHRIST, how-soone they come to the ende of this present lyfe. Hee willeth vsus, to remarke this, saying, Note, that Dionysius sayeth, that the soules of the godlie presentlie after death, attayne to immortall blesse.