and profitable to the deceased Againe in an other place he argueth that this vnordinate mourning can not stand with the steadfast belefe of resurrection of the departed which the prayers of Gods Church and the rites of Christian dirigies do planely protest and proue these be his wordes Cur post mortem tuorum pauperes conuocas cur presbyteros vt pro eis velint orare obsecras non ignoro te responsurum vt defunctus requiem adipiscatur vt propitium iudicem inueniat his ergo de rebus flendum atque vlulandum arbitraris Non vides quà m maximè ipsi repugnas VVhy doest thou gather the poore people to come to thy frendes buriall VVhy desirest thou the priestes to pray for their soules Thy aunswere I am shure will be that thou doest these thinges to prouide for his rest and to obteine mercy and fauour at his iudgies handes VVell then go too what cause hast thou to mourne or bewaile his case doest thou not perceiue that thou art contrary to thy selfe in thy owne facte nowe all studious men may see what force the charity and almes of faithfull people euer had especially towardes the deade how litle weeping auayleâ—h how vnlikely it is that the prescribed dayes of the olde funeralls in the lawe of nature or afterward were spent in mourning with out wordes or workes for the departed but namely how this holy fathers sentence and minde fully setteth fourth the meaning of Tobies precept for setting his breade and drinke vpon the sepulchres to be nothinge els but a calling together of the poore people and feeding them for the benefite of the person departed that not onely they by earnest prayer but he by charitable workes might together obteine rest and mercy for his soule And here the simple sorte and such as be ignoraunt of the force of almes or our fathers practise for their yeares being brought vp in this sinnefull age when vertue is defaced and the workes of Christianitie scarse to be seene in a whole country and where they be much merueled at as thinges rare or contemned as vnprofitable or of the wicked condemned vtterly as superstitious vngodly such good young men must looke backe a great way with me to learne their dueties of the blessed times paste that were wholy free from the contagion of this pestilent waste in religion euen to those dayes that our aduersaries confesse to haue bene holy and vndefiled 5 What a shameles man is this to say the soule of Lazarus was restored to his body at the prayers of Martha Mary his sisters who as the Scripture is manifest did not hope for any restitution before the generall resurrection Yet we neede not doubt sayth he but they prayed dayly for his rest How proueth he that Forsoth Syr when Mary went out sodenly to meete Christ the Iewes sayd vadit ad monumentum vt ploret Alacke that M Allen could not put out that pl. and then it should be vt oret ibi But in good sadnes if the Iewes had thought that Mary had gone to pray at her brothers graue they would not haue followed her to hinder her deuotions but she went to wayle and they followed to comfort her to forbid her M. Allen sayth that immoderate mourning hath a speciall mistrust of the resurrection as S. Paule declareth 1. The. 4. But ioyned with praiers and almes it hath a liuely hope of those that sleepe in peace if they sleepe in peace what neede haue they of our prayers but will you see the ratte taken by his owne rumbling The place of S. Paule 1. Thes. 4. is directly to reproue immoderate mourning for the dead which is not meete for them that haue hope But how hapneth it that prayer and almes be not there ioyned to moderate mourning yea how hapneth it that in so necessary a place S. Paule findeth no other comfort to moderate the mourning of the faythfull but onely the quiet rest of them that are a sleepe in the Lord and the hope of their glorious resurrection Surely if S. Paule had bene of Chrysostomes minde he would haue prescribed other maner of comforts as Chrysostome doth But where learned Chrysostome that prayers and almes had any comfort in them for the dead Surely he allegeth Scripture but he applyeth it madly and yet he often applyeth it to the same purpose belike it was the best he had for that purpose God sayth vnto Ezechias I will defend this citie for myne owne cause and for Dauid my seruaunts sake Alas good man what maner of reason is this be it as he sayth that the memory of Dauid being a righteous man and not rather the trueth of Gods promise made to Dauid moued him to defend the cittie from the enemies doth it therefore followe that prayers and almes are auailable for the deade for whome we haue no scripture no commaundement promise nor example to pray Who if they be of the number of Gods elect be in so happy estate as they can not be better by our prayer which supposeth them to be in misery Hieronym vpon the 37. of Esay where the same sentence is repeted referreth these wordes Propter Dauid c. to the memory of Dauid being a vertuous man wherby the Iewes were admonished that not for their merite but for his mercy sake and for their ancestors sake God woulde protect them but prayer for the deade he findeth not auailable by these wordes The other place of Chrysostome alloweth rather almes that men geue before their death or bequeath in their testâ—ment because it is a worke of their own then that almes which other men geue for them For if Dorcas was restored to life through her almes it was through her owne almes that she did giue when she was a liue not for any almes that other did bestow for her when she was deade The third place of Chrysostome sheweth how hardly the people being once nâ—slâ—d in superstitioÌ„ coulde be kepte in any moderation no not in those times where there was great care diligence and knowledge in their pastors but soone after as these thinges decayed in the teachers so superstition daily increased and where as you note in the margent that priestes in that time were desired to praye for mens soules I will proue afterwarde in a more proper place that in the older time they were called together at burialls for an other purpose But such is the nature of mens deuises that although at the first they seeme not altogether euill yet in processe of time they grow to more and more inconueniens vntill at the last they come to be altogether abominable And therefore your collection M. Allen being all vpon false groundes is nothing to be regarded of olde or younge But Sathan your suttill maister hath taught your rather to appeale to the iudgement of the yonger sorte who haue not knowen your horrible idolatrie and mischeiuous marchandise of mens soules then to men of any riper yeares
After the sinnes of man be pardoned God oftentimes punisheth the offender the church punisheth him and man punisheth him selfe ergo there is some payne due after sinne be remitted Secondly this payne can not alwayes be discharged in this world eyther for lacke of space after the remission as it happeth in repentaunce at the houre of death or else when the party liueth in perpetuall welth without care or cogitation of any satisfaction therefore it must be aunswered in an other place Thirdly the common infirmities and the dayly trespasses which abase and defile the workes euen of the vertuous of their proper condition doe deserue payne for a tyme as the mortall offence deserueth perpetuall Therefore as the mortall sinne being not here pardoned must of iustice haue the reward of euerlasting punishment so it must needes followe that the veniall fault not here forgeuen should haue the reward which of nature it requireth that is to say temporall payne And therefore not onely the wicked but the very iust also must trauell to haue their daily infirmities and frailty of their corrupt natures forgiuen crying without ceasing forgeue vs our debts Quia non iustificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis viuens For no man aliue shal be able to stand before the face of God in his owne iustice or righteousnes and if these light sinnes should neuer be imputed then it were needelesse to cry for mercy or confesse debt as euery man doth be he neuer so passing holy To be briefe this debt of paine for sinne by any way remayning at the departure hence must of iustice be aunswered VVhich can not be without punishmēt in the next life then there must be a place of iudgement for temporall and transitory paynes in the other world The whole discourse made before hath geuen force enough to euery part of the argument the Scriptures doe proue it the practise of the Church confirmeth it all the doctors by our aduersaries graunt agree vpon it If they haue any thing to say here I make them fayre play the ground is open the reasons laide naked before their face remoue them as they can Lette them deale simply if they meane truely and not flourish as they vse vppon a false ground that in flowe of wordes they may couer errour or in rase of their smoth talke ouerrunne truth And that euery man may perceiue that we haue not raised this doctrine vpon reason only or curiositie although the graue authoritie of Gods Church might here in satisfie sober wittes we will now by Gods helpe go nearer the matter and directly make proofe of Purgatory by holy Scriptures reciting such places of the olde and new Testament as shall proue our cause euen in that sense which the learnedst and godlyest fathers of all ages by conference of places or other likelyhood shall fynde and determine to be most true Alleaging none els but such as they haue in the flour of Christian faith noted and peculiarely construed for that purpose which now is in question That the aduersaries of that doctrine may rather striue with the said saincts and doctours then with me that will as they shall well perceiue do nothing but truely reporte their wordes or meaninge Or rather that such as haue erred in that case by giuing ouer light credit to the troblesome teachers of these vnhappy dayes maye when they shall vnderstand the true meaning of the Scriptures the constant doctrine of the Catholike Church the wordes of all auncient writers the determination of so many holy Councels the olde vsage of all nations by humble prayers obteine of God the light of vnderstanding the trueth and the gifte of obedience to his will and worde Or if there be any so sattled in this vnlickely sect that he purposeth not to beleue the graue writers of olde times nor receiue their expositions vpon such places as we shall recite for that preiudice which he hath of this owne witte and vnderstanding yet let him not maruell at my simplicity that had rather geue credit to others then my selfe Or that in this hote time of contention and partaking in religion I do repose my selfe vnder the shadow of so many worthy writers as anone shall giue euidence in my cause CAP. V. 1 TRiumphing before the victorie and that is more before the encontry of hāde strokes for we come to ioyning but now you will now win your spurs or els it shal be a blacke daye with all Protestantes I will be as shorte in mine aunswere as you are in your arguments And that I may put on an armour of proofe to beare of your terrible haileshot your first argumēt hath neither good forme nor matter no more hath your second no more hath your third If you or any for you will prepare your selfe to geue a bitter charge either I or some other shal be redy to shape you an other aunswere But because here is nothing in this briefe ioyning but which hath bene largly discharged before in aunswere to your longe excursions it were nedelesse to make such vaine repetition as you doe especially in your last shorte argument in which space all the substaunce of your large booke might easily haue bene placed only to fil vp a competent length of the fift chapter and with such a tedious inlarging of a superfluous matter as a yong practiser of Rhetoricke would be ashamed to vse in a fayned declamation much worse becomming an auncient master of arte professing to trusse vp his arguments by Logicke to make a perfect perswasion As for the promisse of further proofe both out of the Scriptures and out of the doctors that followeth after this gallant ioyning and lusty challenge shall haue no preiudice of my disabling of the meane to perform it vntill it appeare by playne conference of his arguments and myne aunswers that his words are but winde and his promisse but pratling That Purgatory paines doth not onely serue Gods iustice for the punishement of sinne but also cleanse and qualifie the soule of man defiled for the more seemely entraunce into the holy places vvith conferēce of certaine places of Scripture for that purpose CAP. VI. 1 IF we well cōsider the wonderfull base condition and state of mans nature corrupted by our first fathers disobedience and more and more abased by continuall misery that sinne hath brought into our mortall life we shall finde the worke of Gods wisedome in the excellent repaire of this his creature to be full of mercy and full of maruell But proceding somewhat further and weying not onely his restoring but also the passing great anauncement to the vnspeakable glory of the elect there shall reason and all our cogitations vtterly faint and faile vs. The kingdome prepared is honored with the maiestie of the glorious Trinitie with the humanitie of Christ our Sauiour with the blessed Mary the vessell of his Incarnation with the bewtifull creatures and wholy vndefiled of all the ordres of Angels There can nothing doubtlesse
appeare what good authorities they are to proue the doctrine of the Church This booke de castitate he wrote to diswade a friend of his whose wife was dead that he should not marry agayne condemning second mariage for adultery as Montanus his maister did and laboureth to proue that he could not pray for his departed wiues soule nor offer the yearely oblation if he married an other To the same purpose he reasoneth in his booke de Monogamia where the wordes alleged by M Allen be so corrupted in all the coppyes that Beatus Rhenamus confesseth that no sense could be made of them and these wordes are the coniecturall correction of Beatus Rhenamus But let them be vndoubtedly the wordes of Tertullian as they seeme to be Here more manifestly then before he brocheth his heresie of condemning second mariages for in that the wife prayeth for her husbands soule and offereth c he would proue that she is still married to him and that she committeth adultery if she take an other directly contrary to the word of god Rom. 7. 1. Cor. 7. yet see either the ignorance or the malice of this Allen that allegeth those words of this writer by which he condemneth them that allow second mariage as denyers of the resurrection agaynst vs that deny prayers for the deade to be lawfull by the word of god And vseth the same reason and wordes to proue prayers for the dead to be allowable that Tertullian vseth to proue second mariages to be damnable For that accompt which Tertullian sayth men and women are bound vnto one to an other he meaneth of the promise of mariage once made betwene them which M. Allen like a wise yong man expoundeth prayers oblations for their soules The words of Tertullian following immediatly where M. Allen leaueth them are these Si autem in illo aeuo neque nubent neque nubentur sed erunt aequales Angelis non ideò non tenebimur coniugibus defunctis quia non erit restitutio coniugij At quin eò magis tenebimur quia in meliorem statum destinamur resurrecturi in spirituale consortium agnituri tam nosmet ipsos quam nostros c. But if in that time they shall neither marry nor be married but shall be equall to the Angells we shall not therfore not be bouÌ„d to our wiues departed because there shall not be a restitution of mariage But so much the more we shall be bounde because we are appoynted to a better state as they that shall ryse agayne into a spirituall fellowship and shall know agayne as well our selues as those that pertayne vnto vs Wherefore M. Allen once againe I must tell you that we woulde be sorrie to be so neere the deniall of the resurrection by denying prayers for the deade as you are towarde the heresy of the Montanistes in vsing such reasons to defend praying and offering for the deade as Tertullian a Montaniste vsed to mainteine his heresy but I shall haue further occasion to retorne to Tertullian when I shall proue that the opinion of purgatory came first frâ—â— heretikes 4 But as neere as we be Christes time by Tertullians helpe we will approch yet neerer to the very Apostles age and looke out some recorde of that time for oblations and distributions with memorialls for the departed And the further from you of the new sect we go the more plaine destruction of your doctrine and more manifest proofe of our olde deuotion shall we fiende to your open shame and the comfort of Catholikes S. Clement therefore the Romane one conuersaunt with the Apostles and instructed by them in his faith a familiar of S. Paule and promoted by S. Peter a true pastor and a holy martyr thus reporteth of the Apostles ordinaunce in our matter Peragatur dies mortuorum in Psalmis in lectionibus atque orationibus propter eum qui tertia die resurrexit Item nonus in commemorationem superstitum atque defunctorum Etiam quadragesimus secuÌ„dum veterem formam Moysen enim hoc modo luxit populus nec non anniuersarium pro memoria ipsius detúrque de illius facultatibus pauperibus in commemorationem ipsius Thus in english VVe will that the third day be obserued for the departed in psalmes lessons and prayers for his sake that rose the third day And so the ix day for the vniting together in one memorie the departed with the liuing In like maner the fourtith day must be kept according to the ordre vsed of olde for so did the people obserue the bewayling of Moyses And with all these the xij monthes minde beside VVhere for the memory of his departure lâ—t somwhat be distributed amongest the poore people How say you now my maisters is this Popish or Apostolike doctrine was it inuented for priestes couetousnesse or obserued as Christes ordinaunce made we much of late of the litle we founde before or of late lost for lacke of deuotion that which we had so long before Mercifull God who woulde thinke this geare were so auncient so litle set by VVho would thinke the aduersaries were so impudent and yet so much regarded VVhat hearte thinke you they reade the auncient writers with all Or with what conscience can they passe by so plaine practise of all the Christian worlde Or with what face can they name either scripture or doctor How dare they looke backe at any one steppe of antiquitie all which be nothing els but a testimony of their wickednesse and as you woulde say a pointing with finger at their horrible spoile of olde doctrine and deuotion VVhat if one of their owne scholars seeing this light in our matter shoulde aske of his maister a lasse sir what if this be true that is proued so olde and you chaunce to lie that are so late where are we your scholars then It is not aunswered if you confort him with faire wordes and tell him you follow the scripture For he will charge you againe straight that these men had scripture vnderstood scripture alleaged scripture both of the newe Testament and the olde and referred their vsage some to Moyses Aaron other some to the fathers in the lawe of nature and all to the Apostles of christ VVhere are you then no more but this perdy we vnderstand scripture perchaunce better then they we haue the holy Ghost perchaunce and so had not the fathers perchaunce that is no scripture perchaunce this and this is not that doctors worke because it makes against vs I thinke he that woulde beleue your chauncing that may haue such assuraunce of the trueth on the other side he is worthy to be deceiued 4 Not content with Tertullians testimony you will clime higher euen to Clemens the Apostles owne scholer but you shal be brought downe with shame enough I will not here repeate the mise dounge with the rotten breade in the boxe and such baggage as I haue discouered before of this carterly Clement but because you are so
sermon in such sorte that the common people might vnderstand it and in the 45. Canon they decreed that euery Christian shoulde learne the Creede and the Lorde his prayer Et qui aliter non potuerit vel in sua lingua hoc discat that is And he that can not yet let him learne it in his owne tongue Whereby they declare that they desier to reteine the latine tongue still but rather than the people shoulde be ignorant they commande them to learne their prayers and beleefe in their mother tongue Also by the 43. Canon wherein they iudge that no preeste can saye Masse alone it appeareth that the people commonly vnderstood the latine seruice for they aske how he shoulde saye Dominus vobiscum and admonish the people to lifte vp their heartes and diuers like sayinges where there is none by him but him selfe Nowe if the people vnderstoode not these sayinges it were all one whether they were present or absent Also in the Councell of Rhenes holden in Fraunce about the same time the like decree was made cap. 15. that bishops studie to preache sermons and homelies of the holy fathers so that all men maye vnderstand according to the property of their tongue Finally in the Councell of Laterane holden vnder Pope Innocent the third Anno Dom. 1215. in which Councell transubstantiation was first established the 9. chapter it was plainely decreed that forasmuch as within one citie and diocesse people of diuers languages be mingled together hauing vnder one Faith diuers rites and maners we streightly commande that the bishops of such cities and diocesses prouide able men which according to the diuersitie of their rites and languages celebrate vnto them the diuine seruice and minister the sacramentes instructing them both by worde and example Hereby it appeareth that when the latine tongue was either almost or altogether growen out of the common peoples vnderstandings order was taken that common prayers should be sayed and sacramentes ministred in the mother tongue of euery nation But the bishops which shoulde haue seene it put in execution either negligently omitted it or willingly refused to doe it because it was more for their profit to kepe the people in blinde ignorance So thus I haue shewed that sodenly the tongue of common prayer was not altered 10 Tell me what yeare of our Lorde vnder what Emperour vnder what Pope by whome these thinges were wrought vpon what occasion this marueillous mutation was made WHo can tell the originall of euery blind custome and peuish tradition of euery olde error and foolish fashion it is sufficient to shew that these thinges haue no grounde in the scripture of God they were not taught by Christ and his Apostles nor receiued in the church that followed immediatly after them and then we are bolde to say with Tertullian This preiudice there is against all heresies how soeuer they came vp or when soeuer they sprange vp That is true that was first and that is false that is latter therefore from the beginning it was not vsed to praye for the deade nor to the deade from the beginning common prayer was not in an vnknowen tongue Wherefore prayer for the deade and to the deade with prayer in a strange tongue are false when soeuer they beganne or how long soeuer they continued 11 VVho preached against it what historie maketh mention of it who of all your Pastors preached against it was God his Church so voide of the spirit of Trueth and strength that euen then when it most florished it had none that durst open against â—uch corruption of religion as it entred in and when it might soone haue bene repressed BEfore you demande what yeare the religion of the Papistes came in and whether it came in sodenly and as though we shoulde aunswere that it came in sodainely you demande who preached against it c. This is to fight with your owne shadowe for we say not that it came in sodainely but that it entred by small degrees at the first and therefore was lesse espied by the true Pastors especially being earnestly occupied against great heresies and open aduersaries that sought to beate downe the cheefe foundations of Christian faith as the Valentinians Marcionistes Manichees Arrians Sabellians and such like monsters So when Satan had gotten in one foote by such craftie pollitie he neuer rested vntill he had thrust in his whole bodie with the power of Antichrist 12 If it coulde not shew me then what yeare of the Lorde this mutation was made and who of all the true preachers did with stand this doctrine SO often as you demande one thinge so often must I aunswere after one sorte this mutation was not all in one yeare nor in one hundreth yeares nor in one thousand of yeares for transubstantiation no small article of your religion was not decreed vntill the yeare of God 1215. what preachers haue withstoode your doctrine at diuers times are declared before in the aunswere to the 8. Article 2. demande 13 Or note the name of him that euer first preached any article of our doctrine and if we note you not by their names euery one of your Capitaines and the seuerall errors that they tought and the time and the yeare when they arose against the former receyued trueth and the Councells in which they were orderly condemned if I saye this can be done of your side towarde vs or if we doe it not for improofe of your Church and religion I recant I Haue noted in the answere to the 6. article 3. demande the names of diuers heretikes that first preached diuers articles of your religion and further I note vnto you Pelagius and Coelestius which tought that free will without grace coulde doe somewhat towardes eternall saluation and that grace was geuen according to merite which article you teach also with culler of a distinction De congruo condigno which is a meere cauill for God is as much bounde vnto congruitie as to dignitie or worthinesse and as he can doe nothing against worthinesse no more can he doe any thing against congruitie which is a kinde of Equitie And whereas you bragge to note vnto vs euery one of our Capitaines c. except you note vnto vs the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Euangelistes and Christ himselfe you shall neuer be able to performe that you promise for we teache nothing but the eternall trueth of God wherefore we refuse not to be counted heretikes if you can proue that we holde any one article of faith contrarie to the scripture you may perchaunce note the names of them that preaching the trueth of our doctrine against your receyued errors were accounted of the world for heretikes but you must proue that their opinions are contrarie to the worde of God or els all your labour is in vaine we confesse also that some articles of our doctrine were taught by heretikes as there was neuer no heresie which had not many thinges common with true Religion but yet in
opening of Gods spirite But omitting this matter as touched by the way with two other pages following as containing nothing materiall to be aunswered I will come to the third leafe and second face where you promise an orderly proceeding in the matter you take in hand Which order of yours if you had not professed your selfe to obserue men might haue taken your hochpot to be such as your matter would bring forth that the treaty of Purgatory should be like the troublesome state therof but when you are not content to haue your methode counted to be of the nature of your matter but you will needes make boast of an orderly proceeding in so disordered a cause you must not be offended if your confusion in steade of order be sometime discouered Howbeit the want of order were a small fault if the matter were pregnant and certaine But what assurance shall other men haue of your doctrine when you your selfe affirme and haue learned as you say out of Irenaeus that such doctrine and mysteries may not be safely had at such a mans hand as you are but onely of holy Priestes and Byshops which with the succession of their office haue receiued a sure and certaine gift of truth according to the pleasure of their father It is the duety not onely of a good teacher but euen of a good Christian to say with the Psalmist I haue beleued and therefore I haue spoken If you beleue not these matters why haue you vttered them â–ª â—f you beleue them then be bold to shew vs your grounds out of the word of god For other perswasion then â—uch as is grounded vppon the hearing of Gods worde will neuer of Christians be counted for true beliefe so long as the 10. chapter to the Romanes remaineth in the Canon of the Bible But I knowe your meaning you affect the prayse of humilitie and modestie For wauering and vncertaintie in faith among Papistes is counted modâ—stie but this modesty is soone forgotten and this boldnesse nowe vtterly refused in the next leafe â—ollowing is not onely resumed by your selfe but also enioyned to others Be bolde blush not you might say though you should for shame to charge any of our aduersaâ—â—es c. A sodaine chaunge he that euen now neither can nor must be bolde although he hâ—d many more giftes then he hath and studied much longer then he hath done to expounde the holy Scripture without daunger to him selfe and his hearers because he hath not the certaine gifte of truth with ordinary succession by and by is growne to such a full perswasion of truth expressely proued by argument and authoâ—itie that men must be bold vppon his warrant to charge all his aduersaries either to be helde thereby or else with no honesty to escape his handes A man would maruaile to beholde this speedy alteration if he did not vnderstand the true difference betwene the certaine faith of a Christian and the obstinate blindenesse of an hereticke For when he compareth his opinion with the authority of Gods word where vpon true faith is builded he will not he can not he must not be bolde to vnderstand the scriptures he wanteth that certaine gifte of truth but when he remembreth that he can not deceiue others nor retaine the glory of constancy him selfe by doubtfulnesse and vncertainty then he â—aunteth braggeth of the force of his feeble arguments and vnsufficient auâ—horitie But concerning the place of Irenaeus by him alleged I must admonish the reader that his meaning was not that euery one that succedeth in a Byshoppes seate hath as necessarily annexed to his see that certaine gifte of veritie wherby he may expound the Scripture without error as maister Allen perhaps woulde insinuate But that some in the first age of the Church as they succeded the holy Byshoppes and elders that were ordained by the Apostles in place and office so also it pleased God their father that they shoulde succede in the like gifts and namely in that excellent gifte of interpretation of the Scriptures which was but extraordinarie and for a season For if it had been an ordinarie thing that euery Byshop by succession shoulde receiue that gifte there shoulde neuer haue been any heretike Byshops as there haue been many and againe that prerogatiue which Maister Allen him selfe will affirme to be peculiar to the Byshop of Rome shoulde be made common to euery other blinde Byshop where so eâ—er he sat which were a great absurditie in popery it selfe And as for the gift of the interpretation of scriptures God gâ—ueth it still though not in such full measure nor coÌ„monly without ordinary meanes allowed in the Scripture as reading comparing praying neuer the lesse with as full persuasion in matters concerning Gods honour our saluation by his holy Spirite as euer he did bestowe the same in any age And as for the helpes of learning requisite for the same as knowledge of the tongues and rationall sciences there was neuer greater stoâ—e in the church of Christ son Christ his time ye if we shall iudge by the writings and stories of all ages vnlesse we will be as impudent as maister Allen we must say there was neuer so great store of learning in any age as Gods holy name be praised there is now in these our dayes in menne professing Christian religion with what conscience can maister Allen affirme that there was neuer lesse store of learning then in this age when euen in remembraunce of men that are aliue there was a great deale lesse store then is nowe but in their fathers and grandfathers time there was almost nothing but rudenesse and barbarousnesse euen with the same conscience that soone after he affirmeth that pleasure is euer ioyned to the Protestants doctrine which more preuaileth then the preachers perswasion If you had meant Master Allen that peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding which they tast of that by the Protestants doctrine haue learned that they are iustified by faith Phil. 4. Rom. 5. and to that perpetual ioy in the holy Ghost whereunto we are exhorted by the Apostle Phil. 4. wherein the kingdom of God consisteth Rom. 14. we willingly would haue consented that such pleasure is alwayes ioyned to the Protestants doctrine but seeing it is more like you speake of carnall pleasures I must say thus much to confound your blasphemous tongue and to dashe out your slaunderous writing let the worlde witnesse that heareth our doctrine and God iudge that seeth our hearts whether carnall pleasures be ioyned to our teaching which daily preach with all vehemency and earnestnes vnfained repentaunce mortification deniall of our selues bearing of the crosse hatred of this world amendment of life holines and righteousnes and that vnder paine of euerlasting damnation And whether pleasure more then the godly perswasion of the preachers preuaileth to winne professors of our doctrine if it be not so clearly seene in this Church of England by the meanes of the great peace
them but onely to terme vice by the name of vertue And then we must be examined by what right we chaunge the names of thinges that can not alter their natures Stay a while your examination M. Allen this is no orderly proceding Good order would require that you shoulde first proue vs gilty of the crimes and then to take away our excuses Howebeit I blame you not if you leaue of the proofe of those thinges which would sooner reproue your selues then conuict your aduersaries And yet that you may see howe cleare a conscience we haue in these crimes obiected I will not refuse to answere your interrogatories although by no lawfull and orderly proceding I can be compelled thereto In primis who authorised you to call that extirpation of superstition which our fathers called sacriledge To this I answere I care not what your fathers called or counted sacriledge But God our heauenly father commaunded vs to breake burne and destroy all your idols and to deface al the monuments of them Deut. 12. And all the godly Patriarkes and fathers both before Christes comming and since haue geuen vs example of obedience vnto this commaundement and the obseruation thereof they haue termed the extirpation of superstition and idolatry Or that blinde deuotion which our holy Elders named true religion we learned of our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles to condemne that for blinde deuotion which is not grounded vpon certaine knowledge of Gods word you worship you know not what saith Christ to the Samaritane Iohn 4. S. Paule chargeth the obstinate Iewes with zeale without knowledge Rom. 10. How can they for sinne and shame honour that with the name of holy mariage that S. Ambrose termeth aduoultry S. Augustine worse then aduoultery and they with al the residue of doctours horrible incest The holy Ghost hath taught vs to call mariage honorable in all men and the bed vndefiled whatsoeuer any man hath sayd to the contrary And yet diuers godly men of the auncient fathers as Hieronym and Epiphanius allow mariage in them that can not conteine although they haue vowed virginitie euen as the spirite of God also hath spoken by S. Paule Because it is better to marry then to burne Epipha lib. 2. Haere 61. Hieron Epi. ad Demetriaden And now that I haue aunswered your questions I must be bolde to demaunde the same of you what authoritie you haue to chaunge the names of thinges when you can not alter their nature Who taught you to call that religion which holy Scripture calleth Idolatry or that true deuotion which God calleth vaine worshipping where learned you to call a gluttonous feast of fish a religious fasting or a sumptuous banket of wine spices fruites and deintie conseites a streight and holy abstinence with what face or conscience can you call that ouerflowing lust of your popish vnmaried Cleargie a pure and vndefiled chastitie Finally where learned you but of the Deuill him selfe to commaund abstinence from meates and mariage for religions sake to some men at all times and to all men at some times If for these and an hundred such you can shew no better warrant then the termes of your fathers the practise of your elders or the authoritie of mortall men the curse of God pronounced by Esay against them that call euill good or good euill must needes be turned ouer vnto you But to goe on with this orderly proceding whereby we are first accused and then by and by condemned without euer being conuicted or once put to the triall Next of all lest men should maruell howe so manifest impietie could so mightely preuaile they are told that it is onely present pleasure and similitude of maners that ioyneth so many vnto vs And for proofe hereof men must call to remembraunce the first entrance of this misery how these preachers haue had certaine persons in admiration for their owne aduantage We refuse not the triall but let men on Gods name call to remembraunce howe our doctrine beganne to be restored in these last dayes I pray you what priuate aduantage could they by any likelyhood be supposed to seeke which incurred manifest daunger of their liues by the least suspition of their profession or what persons could they haue in admiration when all Princes great personages were their greatest persecutors but they wanne them by flattery and sewed them cushians vnder their elbowes and laid pillowes vnder their heades This is in deede a sore accusation but where is the proofe Forsoth to such as made no store of good workes they cast onely faith vnder their elbowe to leane vppon O impudent blasphemer which of vs euer taught that such a faith as is not liuely fruitefull of good workes did euer profite any man but to the increase of his damnation To such as were burdened with promise of chastity they made a cushen for their ease To such as had rashly vowed that which they could not possibly performe not we but S. Paule sayth if they can not containe let them marry for it is better to marry then to burne S. Ieronym otherwise an vnmeasurable aduancer of virginitie dispraiser of mariage Ep. ad Dem. speaketh of virgins that professed chastity and liued vnpurely c. apertè dicendum est vt aut nubant si se non possunt continere aut contineant si nolunt nubere It must be plainly sayd vnto them that either they should marry if they can not containe or els containe if they will not marry Epiphanius lib. 2. haer 61. calleth mariage for such men not a cushen for their ease but an holsome medicine against their disease and the wound of burning and that sayth he was the doctrine of the Church in his time To such as cast an eye vpon Church goods they borowed a pillow of Iudas why was not this solde and giuen to the poore If euer any man hearde this text alleged by any preacher for such purpose let that man be counted such one as M. Allen termeth him if no man were heard euer to speake after that maner let M. Allen be taken for a man of such truth as he sheweth him selfe to be But it is a small thing to breake the bondes of modestie in a fewe poyntes if a man striue not to passe impudencie it selfe in shamelesse lying Commit what you list omit what you list your preachers shall prayse it in their wordes and practise it in their workes Sauing that vaine glorious affecters of painted eloquence be sometime so carefull of their wordes that they forget their matter I would haue thought that the father of lies him selfe the continuall accuser of Gods Sainctes would haue feared for euer losse of his credite to haue vttered so vnseemely a sclaunder of vs But I suppose that this disciple of his more regarding how finely then howe truely he inueyeth against his aduersaries had such pleasure in allusion of these termes commit and omit praise and practise words and workes that he respected
discharged by vs One for some satisfaction of Gods iustice as though the satisfaction of Christ were imperfect An other to answere the Church of her right as S. Augustine sayth In deede the olde discipline of the Church required that open offenders should not onely repent priuatly before God but also shew open signes of harty repentaunce for satisfying the Church by whom they were to be receaued as before their repentaunce they were cast out And in this sense satisfaction is often vsed by the auncient fathers and not to fulfill the righteousnes of God either by doing or suffering of any thing Seeing therefore that Godâ— iustice is throughly satisfied by Christes suffering there remayneth no satisfaction to be supplyed by men For the afflictions of the faithfull are tâ—e matter of their patience and conformitie with Christ their head the punishments that are inflicted vpon them are the corrections of mercy not the satisfactions of iustice There remaineth therefore no temporall punishment for satisfying of Gods iustice in our life and much lesse after our death 2 And this to be the graue doctrine and constant faith of the fathers I must first declare both for that it shall firmly establish our whole matter and clearely open the case of controuersie betwixt vs and the forsaken company VVho would so gladly liue at ease in their onely faith that they list nether satisfie for their sinnes nor procure Gods mercy by well working In this case then let vs seeke the ordre of Gods iustice by the diligent consideration of some notable persâ—nages of whome we may haue by the plaine Scripture euident testimonie both of the remission of their sinnes and their penaunce and punishment after they were reconciled againe Our first father Adam in whome we may beholde almost the whole course of Gods iudgement and through whome both sinne and all punishment due for sinne entred into the world I thinke he had the first benefite by Christes death for the remission of his disobedience or at the least because I woulde not auouch an vncertain thing this I am sure that by Christ he was raised vp to Gods fauour againe Of whome we finde it thus written in the booke of wisdome Haec illum qui primus formatus est pater orbis terrarum cum solus esset creatus custodiuit eduxit illum a delicto suo This saith he meaning by Christ vnder the name of wisedom safely preserued him that was first formed of God the father of the world when he was created all alone and raysed him out of his sinne again The which disobedience with what other sinne so euer was thereunto in him ioyned though it was thus clearly pardoned yet the punishment thereof both he felt long after in his owne person and it lieth vpon his posterity till this day For which sinne he him selfe began to doe penaunce as Irenaeus saith euen in paradise and then God practised iudgement vpon him as Augustine noteth first by his disinheritaunce then by painfull trauell inioyned by the vnaptnesse of the earth to serue his turne by rebellion of the inferiour creatures by the troublesom motions of his owne affections briefly in all pointes by a lothsom life and a dreadfull death Yea and that his punishment ceased not in this world by his death but many hundreth yeares after remained as further condemnation of his disobedience I shall more conueniently anone declare Now seeking further to haue cleare and open euidence in this case we can not wish more proofe then may be had by the straung working and dispensation of God in the manifold affaires of that sanctified people and chosen nation of the Israelites In which peoples perpetuall protection a man might finde a perfect platte of mercy and iudgement So often they fall so sodenly they rise so grieuously they offend such mercy they finde that it is maruelous to consider Of this elect family therefore thus God speaketh Si autem dereliquerint filij eius legem meam in iudicijs meis non ambulauerint visitabo in virga iniquitates eorum in verberibus peccata eorum misericordiam autem meam non dispergam ab eo neque nocebo in veritate mea If his children reiect my lawe and walke not in my iudgements with rodde will I visit their wickednes and in stripes their sinnes yet will I not take my mercy from him or them as it is also redde nor harme him in my truth This people at their first passage out of Egypt committing horrible idolatry was pardoned thereof at the instance of Moises yet so saith our Lord God vnto him Ego autem in die vltionis visitabo hoc peccatum eorum But yet in the day of reuengement I will visit this their offence also The same people offending greuously again by murmure and mistrust of Gods carefull prouidence towards them at their Gouernours humble sute were expresly forgiuen in these wordes Dimisi iuxta verbum tuum I haue pardoned them according to thy word But after their assured warraunt for the full remission of the fault the eternall paine due to that greeuous sinne behold yet their punishment temporall for the same Attamen omnes homines qui viderunt maiestatem c. For all that saith our Lord euery one that hath seene my maiesty and the wonders which I wrought in Egypt in the wildernes yet hath notwithstanding tempted me tenne times shall not beholde the land for which I bound my selfe by oth to their forefathers But passing the peoples sinne Moises and Aron them selfe in many pointes minister aboundant profe of this matter VVho both dying in perfect fauour of God yet for their mistrust were discharged of guiding Gods people or entring them selfe into the land so hartely desired and so long loked for before Of these two the Prophet sayth thus Custodiebant testimonia eius praeceptum quod dedit illis Deus tu propitius fuisti eis vlciscens in omnes adinuentiones eorum They obserued his testimonies and the charge that he gaue vnto them Lord God thou wast mercifull vnto them and sharply reuenged their owne inuentions The like ordinaunce of Gods iustice in punishment of such as he highly fauoured may appeare in Samson in Hely all other notorious personages in the whole Scripture But the heartely beloued of God King Dauids example so beareth downe our aduersaries that I can not wel omit it though I now long to be nearer my matter This Prophet had an expresse pardon with a plaine prouiso that he should notwithstanding beare the heauy hand of God for the punishment of his former sinne Once for taking pride in the multitude and numbring of his people God though he pardoned him yet by the prophet God gaue him leaue to chuse of thre named scourges which he would to whom he answered Coarctor nimis sed melius est incidere in manus Domini multae enim sunt misericordiae
homo thus I english it It was necessary that our Lorde comming to the lost sheepe making a recapitulation of his appoynted ordinaunce and vew of his owne handeworke should also saue the same man which was formed after his owne image and likenesse I meane Adam then fulfilling the time of that condemnation which was for his disobedience appoynted and so the man ledde into captiuity was released of the bondes of his condemnation Eusebius Emissenus yet more expresly helpeth our cause as followeth Confestim igitur aeterna nox inferorum Christo descendente resplenduit siluit stridor ille lugentium Cathenarum disrupta ceciderunt vincula damnatorum Out of hand at Christes comming into hell that eternall darkenesse shined bright the gnashing of the mourners ceased and the brosten bandes of condemned persons fell from them Here loe many one by the iudgement of this holy writer were loused from much misery by Christes descending downe VVhere to our purpose we must especially be aduertised that all the iust in those inferiour parts were not in like felicity with our father Abraham or other of such perfect holinesse although he also suffered the common lacke in long looking for translation to ioy for some there were of meaner vertue yet in the fauour of God which suffered personall paine for purging recompense of their sinnes committed in this life of whome this Author semeth to meane And as S. Augustine supposeth the scripture must needes import such a like thing vndoubtedly teaching that Christ was not onely in the place of rest where Abraham and other in his harbour were but also in places of tormeÌ„t which could not touch his holy person Quem Deus suscitauit solutis doloâ—ibus inferni VVhome God raised vp againe after he had loosed hell paines Thus saith this holy Author Quia euidentia testimonia infernum commemorant dolores nulla causa occurrit cur illò credatur venisse Saluator nisi vt ab eius doloribus saluos faceret sed vtrum omnes quos in eis inuenit an quosdam quos illo beneficio dignos iudicauit adhuc requiro fuisse tamen eum apud inferos in eorum doloribus constitutis hoc beneficium praestitisse non dubito Bycause saith he euident testimonies make mention both of Hell and paines I see not why we shoulde beleue that our Sauiour came thether but to discharge some of the paines thereof mary whether he loosed all or summe whome he thought worthy of that benefite that woulde I learne For I am out of doubt he was in hell and bestowed that gracious benefite vpon some that were in paines Thus farre spake Augustine Let no man here take occasioÌ„ to thinke that this father ment of any release of the damned in the inferious hell for that errour he euer detested writeth earnestly against Origine for the same Then it must needs be that he spake of some which were in paine and torment and yet worthy to receiue mercy so he termeth their estate both here and in the xij Booke of the literall exposition on the Genesis where he hath the same wordes with more large proofe of the conclusion which neither agreeth with the state of Abrahams rest nor yet with the forsaken soules And the name of hell is now commonly taken for any one of the inferiour partes where God practiseth iudgemeÌ„t for sinne euerlastingly or temporally though as Augustine saith it caÌ„ not be found in plaine scripture that Abrahams happy resting place should be termed Hell or InfernuÌ„ But I neede not seeke further in the depe mistery of Christes affaires in the inferiour partes For as I am not ashamed to be ignorauÌ„t vpoÌ„ whom he bestowed the grace of deliuery so with Augustine or rather with Gods Church I dare beleue that he loosed somme vpon whome he exercised iudgement before And further may boldely auouche that as there were certaine at his comming downe not vnworthy after long paines tolerated to be released in his presens so there be yet some which by mercy and meanes of Gods Church be released daily Not of that sorte which died out of Gods fauour Quibus clausa est ianua misericordiae omnis spes interclusa salutis Vpon whome the doore of mercy and the hope of helthe be closed and shut vp for euer but of the iust departed in faith and pietie and yet not fully purged of all corruption of iniquitie 4 This man hath hitherto raked in purgatory nowe he will steppe a foote further into hell and all to finde a case where sinnes remitted are punished after this life and then he will returne againe into purgatory For this purpose we must consider with him that Adam and all the iust of those dayes were punished for their sinnes forgiuen not onely in this life but many hundreth yeares after their departure For whose deliuery the Catholike Church he sayth holdeth our creed teacheth that Christ descended into hell First marke how he agreeth with him selfe after how he cauilleth with the holy Scripture of god Here he sayth that Abraham and all the iust were punished in hell afterward in the next leafe he saith that all the iust in those inferiour partes were not in like felicity with our father Abraham or other of such perfect holinesse and in the next leafe after that he affirmeth out of Augustine that Abrahams happy resting place can not be found in Scripture to be termed hell But that the fathers of the olde lawe before Christ were not in hell although they were not nor yet are in perfect blessednesse God prouiding a better thing for vs that they without vs shoulde not be made perfect Heb. 11. It is to be proued with manifest argumentes and authorityes out of holy Scriptures For seeing they all beleeued in Christ they had euerlasting lyfe and entred not into condemnation but passed from death to lyfe Ioan 5. And to what ende was Christ called the lambe that was slayne from the beginning of the worlde but that the benefite of his passion extendeth vnto the godly of all ages alike Esay speaking of thè righteous that are departed out of this life sayth that there is peace and that they shall rest in their beddes Esay 57. like as he affirmeth that Tophoth which is Gehinnom or hell is prepared of olde for the wicked Es. 30. So that felicity and rest was the portion of the godly fathers of the olde time after their death and hell was prepared but for the wicked and vngodly The same doth our Sauiour Christ teach in the history of Lazarus and the rich man Luke 16. where the soule of Lazarus was caried by Angels not downe to hell but vp into Abrahams bosome from which hell is manifestly deuided when it is sayd that the rich man being in hell in torments lifted vp his eyes and saw Lazarus a farre of which wordes doe plainly confute that drousy dreame of the Papistes concerning limbus
patrum which they say is but an edge and border of hell But Christ maketh hell one place and Abrahams bosome an other and not that onely but the one farre from the other yea a great distaunce betwene the one and the other therfore no edge nor border of hell but a place of comfort an high place for the rich man loketh vp and seeth a farre of Lazarus in the bosome of Abraham who was a true childe of Abraham by fayth for fayth maketh children vnto Abraham Rom. 4. And euen as faith was imputed to Abraham so is it to all that be his children by fayth as well as it was to Abraham if righteousnes belongeth to Abrahams children the reward of righteousnes also pertayneth vnto them therefore Abrahams bosome was open to receiue all the children of Abraham euen as the bosome of God was ready to receiue Abraham because he was his sonne through fayth And now to confute your vaine reasons which eyther be manifest wrestinges of the holy Scripture or else are builded vpon the authority of mortall men First you allege that the place into which Christ descended was called a lake without water in which the godly fathers were Zachary 9. but this is so euident an abusing of the word of God that he which doth only reade that verse of Zachary in the originall tongue must needes confesse that those wordes haue an other sense for God there contineweth his speaking to Ierusalem or the daughter of Syon saying he hath deliuered her prisoners by the bloud of her couenant from the lake without water that is from miserable and desperate captiuity where appeared no comfort For the pronoune thou is of the feminine gender wherefore it is most cleare that this is not spoken of Christ but of the Church of christ As for the common translation which turneth the feminine gender into the masculine the first person into the second with manifest deprauation of the sense is not to be admitted in this case Nowe that prison which you bring out of 1. Pet. 3. is the prison of the damned soules into which S. Peter doth not say that Christ descended but that he came in the daies of Noe by his spirite and preached to those that were then disobedient and therefore are their spirites now in perpetuall prison and torment And this is the true and naturall sense of S. Peters wordes which by meanes of that predicate errour rather then of any great obscurity in them hath bene diuersly wrested by expositors The wordes of Irenaeus may be well vnderstoode of Christes comming downe from heauen to saue mankind which deserued iust condemnation for sinne rather then of his descending into hel and the name of Adam seemeth to be taken in these wordes rather for a noune common then for a proper name He hath wordes towards the latter ende of the fift booke that sound more like to this matter where he sayth Cum enim Dominus in medio vmbrae mortis abierit vbi animae mortuorum erant post deinde corporaliter resurrexit post resurrectionem assumptus est manifestum est quia discipulorum eius propte◠quos haec operatus est Dominus animae abibunt in inuisibilem locum definitum eis à Deo ibi vsque ad resurrectionem commorabuntur Seing the Lord went in the middest of the shadow of death where the soules of the dead were and afterward arose corporally and then was taken vp it is manifest that the soules of his disciples for whom the Lorde wrought these thinges shall goe into an inuisible place appoynted for them by God and there shall tarry vntill the resurrection Neuertheles out of these wordes can nothing be necessarily enforced but that the soule of Christ when he was deade was in the place of the godly that were deade before him which no man denyeth If you vrge that he was in the middest of the shadow of death I aunswere that is a phrase of the Scripture signifying that he was verely dead and that death had him in possession after which maner of speach S. Peter sayth that God raysed him agayne loosing the sorrowes of death and you your selfe count it a blasphemy to say that he suffered any torments in hell after his death and Irenaeus him selfe affirmeth that it was such a place as all his disciples shall rest in vntill the time of the generall resurrection which plainly ouerthroweth your fantasy Eusebius Emissenus helpeth you as litle as Irenaeus for he speaketh rhetorically of the glorious victory that Christ obtained against hel the power of darkenes by his death and passion and descending into hell whose words if you would expounde grammatically you will make a mad sense of them he shal be smally beholding vnto you But it is plaine enough except it be to him that wil seeke confirmation of errors out of that which is truely spoken that he meaneth that the effect and power of Christes death mightely vanquished the power of hell eternal damnation not which it had actually ouer the godly but which by the iustice of God it should haue had if his sacrifice had not purchased mercie And therfore he saieth Aeterna nox the euerlasting night which adiectiue is referred also to the gnashing cheines of the damned For it was eternall not temporall damnation from which they were deliuered by Christes death And therfore that fond shift which M. Allen imagineth which he saith may seeme like to be the authors meaning is not worth a straw as being enforced and brought to the wordes by him not expressed in them by Eusebius But when these wil not helpe the supposal of S. Augustine is set downe which because it is but the authority of a man him not constant with him selfe alwayes it is not of sufficient weight to beare downe the testimony alleged out of Gods word The same man contra Felicianum ad Optatum cap. 15. writeth these words Si igitur mortuo corpore ad paeradisum anima mox vocatur quenquam ne adhuc tam impium credimus qui dicere audeat quoniam anima saluatoris nostri triduo illo corporeae mortis apud inferos custodiae mancipitur If therefore the body being dead the soule is immediatly called to paradise beleue we yet that there is any man so vngodly that he dare say that our Sauiours soule in that 3. daies of his bodily death was committed to prison in hel c. In these words he semeth vtterly to deny that he came in that prison of hel You wil say he denieth that he tarried there so long but not that he came not there at all But then marke this reason if the soules of good mē immediatly are called to paradise much more was Christes soule immediatly receiued into paradise who committed the same into his fathers handes 5 Let the enemies of Gods trueth come now and denie if they cā for shame that Gods iustice for sinnes remitted reacheth not sometimes
to the places of punishment in the next life let them with purgatory rase vp the fathers resting place so plainely set forth by scripture beleued of the whole Church and alwayes taught by the holy fathers Yea let them that will haue no place for sinners finde with blasphemie hell like torments for Gods owne Sonne with the damned spirites My hearte surely will scarse serue me to report it and yet cursed Caluine was not afearde to write it and with arrogant vauntes against the blessed fathers to auouch the same That miserable forsaken man sawe that the onely graunt of the olde fathers punishment by the lacke of euerlasting ioye might of force driue him to acknowledge that God sometimes exerciseth his iustice vpon those which he loueth in the next life and so consequently that Purgatory paynes might be inferred therevppon therefore he fell headelong to this horrible blasphemye that Christ went not to loose any from the paynes of the next life but to be punished in hell with the deadely damned him selfe for to amend the lacke of his passion vppon the Crosse. O our cursed tyme O corrupt conditions this beast writeth thus agaynst our blessed Sauiours death and against the sufficiency of the abundant price of our redemption and yet he liueth in mans memory yea his bookes be greedely redd redde Nay by such as would be counted the chiefe of the cleargy and beare Byshops names they are commaunded to be redde and the very booke wherein this all other detestable doctrine is vttered especially by their authority commended to the simple Curats study that they might there learne closely in deuilish bookes such wicked heresies as the preachers them selues dare not yet in the light of the world vtter nor maintaine But other be not so farre fallen therefore they must of reason confesse that God by iust correction hath before Christes comming visited in the next world many hundred yeares togither the sinnes of those whome he dearly loued Although not onely in all that time the soules of the holy Patriarches felt the lacke of the aboundant fruition of the Maiesty but also for sinne they both then in rest and now in vnspeakeable felicity want till this day the encrease of ioy and blesse that by the receauing of their bodyes yet lying in dust they are vndoubtedly sure of Therfore it is ouer much presumption to limit the maiesty of God in the gouernment of his owne creatures to the borders of our short life and almost it toucheth his very prouidence with iniury to say that he letteth him scape without punishment for his sinnes that repented not till the houre of death as for whom he hath no scourge in the next life as he had here if death had not preuented his purpose These childish cogitations can not stand with the righteousnes of his will that for the first sinne committed doth not onely punish many euerlastingly of the forsaken sorte but also for the same punisheth both his best beloued in earth and for a time abateth the felicity of the blessed Sainctes in heauen But I will not stray after these men My matter is so fruitefull that I may not roue And though the sectes of these dayes haue so infected euery braunch of our christian faith that a man can not well ouerpasse them what so euer he taketh in hand yet I will not medle with them no further then shall concerne the quicke of our cause and the necessary light of our matter 5 Now this lusty gallaunt as though he had fully repayred and fortified the olde ruinous and battered towers of limbus patrum with canuas paynted walls he standeth vpon his bulwarke of browne paper and cryeth defiaunce to all his enemies and especially he vttereth his spite agaynst Caluine as a notorious enemy of his cause quarel Whom because he is to young to encounter withall by any witt learning reason or truth he spitteth out against him most impudent sclaunders raylings and lyes in which faculty he hath striued so much to shew him selfe eloquent that not satisfying him selfe with the voyce of a man he hath borrowed the tongue of the Deuill him selfe or at the least wise for feare he should not lye throughly geuen ouer his shamelesse tongue to be wagged by the father of lyes For what man with any shewe of humane reason would accuse Caluine to deny the sufficiency of the redemptiō of Christ to affirme that Christ went downe into hell after his death to be punished there with the damned him selfe for to amend the lacke of his passion vpon the crosse whose doctrine God him selfe the Angells and all the world doth knowe and testifie to be directly contrary to these sclaunders For who euer more constantly affirmed or more substantially proued the sufficiency of our redemption by Christes death what asse so vnlearned if he can but conster Caluins latine in his catechisme institutions or any part of his workes where he entreateth of that article of Christes descense in to hell may not plainly see that he vtterly denieth his descending into hell after his life affirming the same to be vnderstood of the wrath of God which he sustayned for our sinnes before his death at that time especially when he that was God complained that he was forsaken of God which mystery if M. Allen vnderstand not it is no maruell seeing he abridgeth so much the benefite of Christes redemption as all papistes doe alwayes and he specially in this his defence of purgatory and yet he is not ashamed to say of Caluine this beaste writeth against our blessed Sauiours death If I did not moderate somwhat my corrupt affections I could requite him the like reproches but this much I must needes say Is Caluine a beast for speaking the truth to the glory of Christes redemption Allen an honest man for sclaundering him to the defacing of Gods honour But because he would not be thought to haue spued oute all his poison against Caluine he goulpeth vp an other bowlefull of rayling and sclaundering against our Bishoppes who haue not onely suffered but also commended Caluins bookes to be reade and studied of the simple curates affirming that they doe priuily set forth by books that which they dare not openly preach If euery man that can be a witnesse that M. Allen lyeth in this matter should pull one heare from his heade or bearde they would leaue him neuer an heare of an honest man behinde them But that he maie returne to his gentle aduersaries with whome is lesse daungerous dealing there be some he sayth that graunt the punishment of the fathers after their death of whose liberall concession he doubteth not but to patch vp his Purgatory In which practise he is not vnlike a fonde fellowe of whome I haue hearde men iest in Cambridge who when he was non plus as they terme it in disputation and all his argument spent that he had prouided Now sayth he will I dispute of your concesses
you must repeat that which is nothing like to your matter Paula was penitent for her sinnes with prayers almes and fasting and all for feare of purgatory So sayth M. Allen. But Ieronyme sayth not so M. Allen is here all the credit of the matter beleue him as you list But if any man had rather beleue Chrysostome speaking of such kind of workes as M. Allen and his fellowes count to be the chiefe workes of penaunce whether they serue for satisfaction for our sinnes vnto God let him consider what he writeth in his treatise de compunctione cordis lib. 2. Non requirit Deus ciliciorum pondus neque concludi inter angustias cellulae neque in obscuris antris tencbrosis sedere iubet hoc solum est quod exposcatur à nobis vt semper recordemur mala nostra c. God requireth not the burden of heauy garments not to be shut vp with the streights of a litle cell neither doth he commaund vs to sit in obscure and darke dungeons or dennes this onely is that which is required of vs that we should alwayes remember our euill life c. you see therefore by Chrysostoms iudgement that neither the satisfaction of Gods righteousnes nor any obedience of Gods commaundement hath banished the Heremites closed vp the Anachorets and cloyed the world with cloysterers but the superstitious and slauish feare of purgatory the blasphemous presumptuous pride of mens merites I passe ouer as not proper to your matter that for the honour of Christ you except his mother from confessing her selfe to be indebted to God and not to be in the numbre of those by whome the Lordes prayer is to be sayd Such honor neither doth God allowe her nor she arrogate vnto her selfe but acknowledgeth her owne basenesse and ioyfully accepteth Gods saluation It is greater honor to Christ to be sauiour of his mother then to haue such a mother as had no neede of his saluation He him selfe more then once is reade to haue reproued her wherein he had done her wrong if she had committed no trespasse Luke 2. Iohn 2. 6 But list you see how this doctrine of penaunce liked Caluine The shrew saw that by graunting of this satisfaction for sinne and the profitable vsage thereof in this life that it might argue of necessitie the residue of some paines in the next if it were here omitted or not ended And therefore I pray you see how substantially he aunswereth and how like him selfe Parumme mouent sayth he quae in veterum scriptis de satisfactione passim occurrunt video enim eorum nonnullos dicam simpliciter omnes fere quorum libri extant aut in hac parte lapsos esse aut nimis aspere dure loquutos I make small accompt of that which I often finde concerning Satisfaction in the auncient writers for I perceiue diuers of them shall I be plaine with you in a maner euery one that euer wrote till this daye in this point to haue bene fouly deceiued or spoken more roughly then they shoulde haue done Is not this a fellow a lone whether thinke you now our English bragger craking all the doctors to be on his parte or this man confessing plainely that they be all against him and yet setting not a butten by them all whether thinke you is more arrogant I am sure Caluine dealeth here more sincerely and the other more deceitfully If craking had bene a maisterie in sommer games as lying is our man might haue wone of all the worlde two games at a clappe But there is no remedy he must yelde to the learned that haue opened his impudencie Therefore I leaue him and take the benefit of this his maisters confession for further confirmatiō of my cause doubting nothing but that most wise men seeing by the aduersaries graunt all learned fathers to be on our side will accept it either as a full proofe or no small presumption of that trueth which we defend 6 But list you heare how this presumptuousse pratler can not conclude his chapter which he began with lying vpon Melancthon but by slaundering of Caluine He faineth that Caluine in the wordes by him rehersed confesseth all the doctors to be against him and yet setteth not a butten for them all The best reproofe of this calumniation shal be to sende them that be desirous to know the trueth vnto the whole discourse of Caluine vpon satisfaction Insti lib. 3. cap. 4 which who so list to doe shall plainely see whether Allen doth him not here open wrong But because euery man either can not for the lacke of the booke or will not for want of good affections towardes Caluine take so much paines as to peruse his owne writing I will aunswere in a worde or two After that Caluine hath most substantially proued both by authority of holy Scripture and also by consent of auncient doctors that their is no satisfaction vnto God for our sinnes but onely the death of Christ he cōmeth at length to speake of the worde of satisfaction which sayth he as it is often vsed in the olde writers so sometime hardely as improperly that M. Allen calleth roughly or if any of them haue erred about satisfaction it were not reason that their error shoulde preuaile against the open trueth And cleerely to conuicte M. Allen of a loude lye where he sayth that Caluine confesseth all the doctors to be against him his wordes follow immediatly after those rehersed by M. Allen Sed non credam eos ipsos adeo fuisse rudes imperitos vt eo sensu illa scripserint quo à nouis istis satisfactionariis legūtur That is how soeuer they haue either erred or spoken vnproprely of satisfaction yet I will not graunt that the same men were so rude and ignoraunt that they did wright those thinges in that sense in which they are read by these new satisfactionaries Then doth he bring forth diuers testimonies both out of Chrysostome and Augustine to shew what their iudgement was of satisfaction agreable to the Scriptures by which must be expounded what so euer they haue vttered that seemeth either erroneus or at the lest vnproprely spoken As for that reuerend father M. Iewell whome this arrogant Louanist calleth the English bragger how well he hath answered his challendge his owne learned labors do more cleerely testifie vnto the worlde then that it can be blemished by this sycophants braynlesse babling A briefe ioyning in reason and argument vpon the proued groundes vvith the aduersaries for the declaration of Purgatory CAP. V. 1 HAving vndoubtedly wonne thus much both by euidēt testimony of holy writ by the warraunt of all the learned fathers by good reason and by the aduersaries owne confession I will be bolde to bare the very iointes of the argument that both the simple may acknowledge my plaine dealing and the Protestant haue his vauntage if the reason stand not vpright VVith out colour or glose then thus I make my proofe
purged of the smaller spottes which sticke by him In the same sense doth Theodoretus both expounde the wordes of the Apostle and vtter his iudgement of Purgatory also and almost the rest of all the Latine or Greeke writers which my purposed breuitie with plentifull proofe otherwise forceth me to leaue to the studious reader 3 Next ensueth the authoritie of Ieronym or Bede or perhaps neither of them both but yet of some olde writer which holdeth that from light sinnes men may be absolued after their death by paynes prayers almes or masses This was a writer for M. Allens tooth but neither of antiquitie nor credit sufficient to cary away this cause The iudgement of Oecumenius and Theodoretus though they were writers about that time when corruption of doctrine had greatly preuailed yet are they not cleare for popish purgatory which the greeke Church although they pray for the dead yet would neuer agree to acknowledge 4 One place more I will onely adde out of Remigius because he learnedly may knit vp the place by ioyning both the Prophet and Apostles wordes together vpon which we haue stand so longe Thus that good author writeth Ipse enim quasi ignis conflans peccators exurens Ignis enim in conspectu eius ardebit in circuitu eius tempestas valida Hoc igne consumūtur lignum foenum stipula Nec solum erit quasi ignis sed etiam quasi herba fullonum qua vestes nimium sordibus infectae lauantur Porro his qui grauiter peccauerunt erit ignis conflans exurens illis vero qui leuia peccata commiserunt erit herba fullonum Hinc per Isaiam dicitur si abluerit dominus c. Qui enim habent sordes leuium peccatorum spiritu iudicij purgantur qui vero sanguinem habent hoc est grauioribus peccatis infecti sunt spiritu ardoris exurentur purgabuntur Et sedebit conflans emundans argentum colabit eos quasi aurum argentum hoc est intellectum colloquium vt quicquid mixtum est stanno vel plumbo camino domini exuratur quod purum aurum est argentum remaneat Et purgabit filios Leui In filijs Leui omnem sacerdotalem ordinē intelligimus a quibus iudicium incipiet quia scriptum est tempus est vt iudicium incipiat a domo dei alibi à sanctuario meo incipite Si autem sacerdos flammis purgandus est colandus quid de caeteris dicendum est quos nullum commendat priuilegium sanctitatis These golden wordes haue this sense He shall come as the goldesmithes fire burning sinners For in his sight a flame shall rise and a mighty tempest rounde about him by which fire our woodde hay and stooble shall be wasted and worne away VVith that he shall be like the clensers herbe whereby garments very much stained be purged To all those that haue greuously offended he wil be a burning and melting fire but to the light sinners he shall be as the washers herbe VVhich difference the prophet Esay noteth thus If our Lorde wipe away the filthe of the daughters of Syon and bloude from the middest of Israel in the spirite of iudgement and fire For such as haue onely the spottes of veniall sinnes they may be amended by the spirite of iudgement but men of bloude to witte the more greuous offenders must be tried by fire And he shall sit casting and purifying siluer and shall purge men as golde and siluer be purified that is to say our thoughtes understanding and wordes from impurity and vncleannesse as from pewter and leade by Gods fornace shall exactly be purged and nothing shall be left but as pure as golde and fine siluer And he shal purge the sonnes of Leui that is the ordre of priesthood where this heuy iudgement shall first begin For so it is writtē Time is now that iudgemēt begin at the house of God and againe Begin at my sanctuary If the priest must be purged and fined what shall we deme of other whome priuilege of holy ordre doth not commende or helpe thus farre goeth the author in conference of diuerse scriptures VVho with the rest of al the holy fathers that compassed their senses within the vnity of Christes Church hath founde by euident testimony of sundry scriptures the paines of purgatory which the busy heades of our time by vaine bragging of scriptures in singular arrogancy of their owne wittes can neuer finde 4 Last of all here is vaunt made of the testimony of Remigius as though he were a new author and perhaps M. Allen in his notes founde him so but it is nothing else but the saying of Ieronym almost word for word vppon 3. Malach 3. which before we haue shewed sufficiently to be mēt of the iudgement that Christ should exercise by his doctrine at his first comming and nothing at all pertayning to purgatory And therefore these golden words as you cal them M. Allen haue a leaden exposition when they be drawne from the preaching of the Gospell to the mayntenance of purgatory A further declaration of this pointe for the better vnderstanding of the doctours vvordes VVherein it is opened hovv purgatory is ordeined for mortal sinnes hovv for smaller offences vvho are like to feele that griefe vvho not at all CAP. IX 1 ANd I thinke they now haue small aduantage by the exception of Origens testimony by occasion whereof such light is founde for our cause that we now by goodly authority haue both founde the placies alleaged plainely to proue purgatory and also what sinnes it namely purgeth and what men after their death may be amended thereby That not onely the bare trueth but some necessary circumstances to the studious of the trueth haue bene here by iust occasion opened and all errour wholy remoued Except this point may somewhat stay the reader that heareth in some places the paines of Purgatory to be both a punishment for greuous sinnes and a purgation of lighter trespasses with all and yet that it now may appeare the contrary by the minde of some learned authors who expressely make that paine as a remedy onely for veniall sinnes and not to apperteine at all to the capitall and deadely crimes that man often times doth commit Therefore to be as plaine as may be necessary for the vnlearned or any other that is godly curious in things much tending to the quiet rest of mans conscience it is to be noted that this ordinary iustice of God in the life following for the purgation of the elect can not discharge any man of mortall sinne which was not pardoned before in the Church militant vppon earth And therefore what crime so euer deserueth damnation and was not in mans life remitted it can not by purgatory paines be released in the next because it deserueth death euerlasting and staieth the offender from the kingdome of heauen for euer no peine temporall in this
they chalenge this Priuilege can not feele any daunger their workes as S. Paule sayth abiding the brounte of the fire though they were in place of torment with the rest For if such do passe the firie sworde before they entre into the ioyes of heauen yet they shall euen there be so shadowed that to them it can neither be any whit molestious nor one moments staye from the reward of their pure golden workes which by fire can not perish For of such we muste beleue with Gods Church that they go straight to heauen vpon their departure with out stay or punishment in the next life Although Christ onely of his owne force being not subiecte to any spotte of sinne did passe this fire and entre into heauen the eternall gates opening them selues vnto him as to the king of glory VVho being before in the place of paines also yet coulde not possibly be touched thereby as the Apostle sayth And that is S. Ambrose his meaning as I suppose when he saide Vnus ille ignem hunc sentire non potuit Christ onely was he that coulde not feele this fire He speaketh of the fire through which euen the good must passe before they come to eternall ioy VVhere he doubteth not to auouche that many a man that thinkes him selfe golde and is taken so to be of others too shall yet there be proued full of drosse and impurity long to be cleansed before his finall freedome and deliuery and yet to be saued through fire But for those that be in deede perfect men as Iohn the beloued of Iesus and Peter with the rest this holy doctour was so sure of Purgatory that he thought these also to go through the same and yet the fiery flame to haue geuen place as it did to the three children and as S. Augustine supposeth it shall do in the generall conflagration to the bodies of vertuous men wheÌ„ at the very same time it shall bothe waste the wicked and purge the meane the workes of one sorte withstanding the flame the drosse of the other in a maner feeding the same S. Ambrose therfore thus writeth of the holy Apostle De morte Ioannis aliqui dubitaruÌ„t de transitu per ignem dubitare non possumus quia in paradiso est à Christo non separatur some doubt of Iohns death but of his passage by the fire because he is in ioy with Christ we can not doubt And of S. Peter he sayth siue ille sit Petrus qui claues accepit regni coelorum oportet dicat transiuimus per ignem aquam induxisti nos in refrigerium Yea if it be Peter him selfe to whome the keyes of heauen were committed he must say we passed by fire and water and thou hast brought vs into the place of refreshing But how so euer God worketh in this case with the perfite sort this the Church beleueth and so this doctour teacheth and therfore I dare be bolde to say it that such neither suffer any paine nor tariaunce by the waye Though by nature that fire or torment prepared for the amendment and punishing of sinne or the drosse thereof might of force and right take holde there where corruption of sinne by any meanes hath bene that is not wholy purified before Therefore the soule of our Sauiour being altogether vnspotted coulde not be subiect to any sufferance in the worlde to come by any ordinaunce prepared for the punishment of sinne that fire hauing no further graunt by creation and naturall property but to waste there where sinne is founde to haue bene Vpon other it woulde worke till all corruption were consumed if mercy did not preuent both in purifying those singular elect vessels and in repressing the nature of the flame prepared that it practise not iustice where God hath abundantly shewed grace and mercy before Albeit I do not say that the firie sworde is in the passage of euery soule towardes heauen for that is Gods secret and I will with S. Ambrose in the same place say Quod legi praesumo quod noÌ„ legi scientibus relinquo That which I haue reade in graue authority that will I boldely auouch that which I haue not reade with feare and reuerence I commit to men of more knowledge As with out exception I submit my selfe to the determination of Gods Church in all these pointes of misteries which in this deepe matter course of taulke may driue me vnto But now for the meaner sorte that with Christian faith and good workes haue yet some baser building of infirmity or lighter trespasses also those must needes be tried by the fire of iuste iudgement in the worlde to come And this is that which S. Augustine calleth so often the Amending fire S. Ambrose the firy sworde S Bernarde termeth it the place of expiatioÌ„ In quo pater benignus examinat filios rubiginosos sicut examinatur argentum In which our mercifull father trieth his rusty children as siluer is tried VVhiâ—h all these holy fathers with the rest oftentimes do name by the commoÌ„ calling of Purgatory Reade all these place is named if thou hast occasion thy selfe and there thou shalt finde to thy singular comforth sufficient proofe of thy faith great motion of godly life with necessary feare of Gods iudgements Thou shalt maruell at the ignorance of our time that could euer doubt of so plaine a matter thou shalt pity with all thy hearte the vnworthy deceiuing of the vnlearned and haue large matter to withstand the deceiuer and to helpe the simple home againe 2 The rest of this chapter is so vainly consumed in serching how the perfect men shall passe through purgatory and feele it not that it is not worth the aunswering but onely to see how he is combred to reconcile the doctrine of the Papistes concerning purgatory and the opinions of the olde writers touching them that passe through fire into paradise For their opinion as we haue seene before was that all men were they neuer so iust passed through that fire and were purified thereby The Papistes affirme that perfect iust men come not at all in their purgatory as the M of the sentence teacheth lib. â— dist 21. M. Allen to retayne the authority of the olde writers holdeth that perfect iust meÌ„ passe through this purgatory without sense of payne or making any stay there yea he doubteth not to affirme that Christ him selâ—e passed through the fire of purgatory though he could not feele the smart of it because he was pure from sinne Is not this holsome doctrine think you to be so carefull to racke the fiery sworde that Ambrose speaketh of vnto purgatory that he is not ashamed to inuent a new article of our faith that Christ descended into purgatory A place alleged for purgatory out of S. Matthevv vvith certayne of the auncient fathers iudgements vpon the same CAP. X. 1 ANd yet it shall be conuenieÌ„t that I helpe the studious reader with further
incredulity to blaspheme these peculiar steppes of the spirite S. Cyprian complaineth of such misbeleuers in his time that woulde not agree to the trueth after especiall reuelations had of the same VVhich kinde of men he noteth in the latter ende of an epistle by these wordes Quanquam sciam omnia ridicula visiones ineptas quibusdam videri sed vtique illis qui malunt contra sacerdotes credere quam sacerdoti Sed nihil mirum quando de Ioseph fratres sui dixerunt ecce somniator ille venit Although sayth he I know right well howe litle accompte they make of visions which they esteeme as mere trieftes But yet it is such onely that had rather beleeue against then with Gods priestes And no meruaill that is seeing good Iosephs owne brethern saide by him in mockage Lo yender comes the dreamer So did they scoffe at him because he had more familiarity with the spirite of God then the other had 4 Now followeth a large and needelesse apologie of visions and reuelations the doctrine of which is briefely and plainely set forth in the worde of God what so euer is consonant to the word of God is to be receiued that which is not agreable therewith is to be detested although not a man from purgatory but an angell from heauen were the bringer of it Then seeing the doctrine of purgatory is blasphemous against the merites of Christes death though all those fables of visions that are fayned to defende it were true stories yet are we nothing moued with them I passe ouer the impudency of this man which is not ashamed to compare so many thousand fables or illusions of Sathan as are reported to the maintaining of purgatory to the reuelation of S. Paule and the Apocalypse of S. Iohn or the appering of Moses and Elias with christ They may be in deede a great nombre of them not vnlike to that spirite of Samuell which was raised by the witche which as Augustine affirmeth and M. Allen dare not simply deny was the spirite of the Deuill him selfe 5 Now as the ioyes of heauen Paradise with the tormeÌ„t of sinners and other secrets of the next life haue bin straungly represented to some one or other in all ages by sundry meanes most expedient to our saluation and most seemely to the wisedom and will of the worker so certainely no article was euer with more force of spirite or more graue authority set forth sence the beginning of Christian religion then this one of Purgatory Neuer nation was conuerted to the faith but it had this trueth not only taught by worde but by miracle also confirmed And namely in that aboundant floode of faith when it pleased God almost at once to spreade his name amongest all these contryes it was thought most necessary to his diuine wisedome together with the true worship of his name to plant in all faithfull mens heartes the awe and necessary feare of that greeuous torment for the reuenge and iust iudgement of wicked life This greeuous payne was vttered by the very sufferers them selues as we may see in the notable histories of Paschasius and Iustus reported by S. Gregories owne mouth This greeuous punishment was agayne declared by Furseus who as the reuerent Bede reporteth had the beholding of the eternall blesse the euerlasting miâ—ery and the temporall payne of the next life Drichelmus also by the ordinaunce of God taken from amongst mortall men into the state of the next world after he had seene likewise the terrible iudgement of God practised euen vpon the elect was restored to life againe in our owne nation and was a witnesse worthy of all credit of this same truth not only by his word wherof he was so sparing all his life time after that he would not vtter this same mistery but with singular care and respect of the persons intent that asked him thereof but namely by passing great penaunce and incredible chastising of his body which proceded of the sensible knowledge that he had of the paynes prepared And being asked sometime as holy Bede sayth why he so tormented him selfe in the willing toleration of extreme heate or contrary cold both of frost and snow he made aunswere simply and shortly Frigidiora ora ego vidi austeriora ego vidi Ah maisters I haue seene colder I haue seene sharper Meaning by the vnspeakeable paines of Purgatory The whole history of his visions with many the like may be reade in the Ecclesiasticall history of our owne nation written by as faithfull a witnesse as euer was borne in our lande of such vertue that he woulde begile no man willingly of so great wisedome that he woulde report no tale nor triefle rashly of such grace and learning that he was well able to disâ—erne a false fable and superstitious illusion from a true and diuine reuelation For as it were foly and mere vanity to geue credit to euery spirite so to condemne a spirite or reuelation or any worke of Gods finger approued by the Church of God in which there hath euer bene the gifte of discerning spirites it is properly a sinne against the holy Ghost And because euery man hath not that gifte as I woulde not counsell any man ouer lightely to geue credit to euery priuat spirite and peculiar vision because they may come of wicked intentes and sinister motions so I thinke it were good in feare reuerence and humility to commit the discerning of such thinges to the spirite and iudgement of Gods Church VVith the belefe of euery peculiar mans phantasie we are not charged with humble submission of our whole life and belefe to the Church of Christ there are we especially charged And because there is nothing reported either in the workes of S. Gregory or in Bede or in Damascen or in any other the like concerning the paines either of the elect or the damned in the next life but as much hath bene vttered before by all the holy and learned fathers in great agony of minde and feare of the saide iudgement we may be the more bolde to thinke the best or rather we are bounde to thinke the best of that spirite which so conformably agreeth with the doctrine of the Church and faith of all the fathers There can no man say more of Purgatory nor more plainely then S. Ambrose being in a maner a frade him selfe of wasting away in that horrible tormeÌ„t none more effectually then S. Augustine that confesseth there is no earthely paine comparable vnto it none more fearefully then Eusebius Emissenus who termeth it skaulding waues of fire none more pithely then Paulinus that calleth those places of iudgements Ardentes tenebras burning darknesse More peculiarly may the circumstances and condicion of that state by God be reueled but the trueth thereof can not be more plainely declared nor better proued These babes feared no bugges I warraunt you neither picked they Purgatory out of Scipio his dreame
but they had it out of Gods holy worde and tradition of the holy Apostles and by the very suggestion of the spirite of trueth All which if it can not moue the misbeleuer and stay the rashenesse of the simple deceiued sort it shall be but lost labour to bring in any more for the confirmation of that trueth which all the holy doctours haue so fully both proued and declared to my hande 5 The tales that you tell out of Gregory and Bede may be hearde as they are tolde and beleeued as they deserue but that you make the opinion of purgatory such an article of faith that no article with more force of the spirite nor with more graue authority was set forth sence the beginning of Christian religion and yet neuer taught in the scripture that is by no meanes to be borne with all If Sathan hath labored to plante that error which is most blasphemous against Christ and occasion of most licentious wickednesse in all them that professe Christ and beleue it if Sathan I saye hath bent all his force to plante such an error by which his kingdome is so much aduaunsed no wise man can maruell Of like leuen it is that you affirme That neuer nation was conuerted to the fayth but it had purgatory taught by worde and confirmed by miracle O impudent affirmer Of so many nations as S. Luke recordeth in the Actes of the Apostles to haue bene conuerted to the fayth name one vnto which you can proue that purgatory was taught eyther by worde or miracle But to be sure you name all euen of the primitiue Church when that aboundant floude of faith was spred ouer all countries But when the proofe commeth you leape but 600. yeares from Christ to Gregories dialogues from which time I will not deny but you may haue great store of such stuffe as you haue miracles now in Flaunders of the honest woman of the olde Baylye in London and such like 6 But nowe for vs that through Gods greate mercy be Catholikes let vs for Christes sake so vse the benefit of this our approued faith to the amendement of our owne liues that where no argument will serue nor authority of Scripture or doctour can conuerte the deceiued yet the fructe of this doctrine shewed by good life and vertuous conuersatioÌ„ may by Christes mercy moue them Let the priest consider that this heuy iudgement must beginne at the house of God as S. Peter affirmeth and so doth S. Ambrose proue it must do In whome for the dignity of his honorable ministery as much more holynesse is requisite so a more straite reckening must be required Let the Lay man learne for the auoyding of greater daunger in the presence of the highe Iudge willingly to submit him selfe to Gods holy ministers VVho haue in most ample maner a commission of executing Christes office in earth both for pardoning and punishment of sinne that suffering here in his Church sentence and iuste iudgement for his offensies he may the rather escape our fathers greuous chastisement in the life to come Therefore I woulde exhorte earnestly the minister of God that in geuing penaunce he would measure the medecine by the maladie aptly discerning the limitation of the punishment by the quantity of the faulte not vsing like lenity in closing vp of euery wounde For they shall not be blamelesse surely that do the worke of Gods iudgement committed to their discretion negligently nor the simple soule that lookes to be set free from further paine can by the acceptation of such vnâ—quall remedies auoide the scourge of iudgement prepared except he him selfe voluntaryly receiue as I woulde wishe all men shoulde some further satisfaction by the fructes of penaunce that of his owne accorde he may helpe the enioyned penalty and so by Gods grace turne away the great greefe to come Excellently well and to our purpose saide S. Cyprian in the fourth booke of his epistles talking of such offenders as were not charged with penaunce sufficiently or otherwise negligently fulfilled the same by these wordes We shall not herein any thing be preiudiciall to Gods iudgement that is to come that he may not allow and ratifie our sentence if he finde the perfect penaunce of the party so require But if the offender haue deluded vs by fayned accomplishing of his penaunce then God who will not be deluded because he beholdeth the hearte of man shall geue iudgement of such thinges as were hidde from vs And so our Lorde will amende the sentence of his seruauntes VVhere this doctour seemeth to allude to the accustomed name of Purgatory which S. Augustine and other do often call the amending fire Though it may well be that he here calleth the contrary sentence of iudgement to eternall damnation vpon the impenitent sinner whome the priest because he coulde not discerne the fayned hypocrasy of his externall dealing from the inward sorow of hearte pronounced to be absolued of his sinnes it may stande I say that he termeth that contrary sentence of God the correction or the amendement of the priestes iudgement How so euer that be it is a worke of singular grace and discretion so to deale with the spirituall patient that he haue no nede of the amending fire 6 Here is an exhortation vnto Papistes first to the priestes that they will shew the fructe of this doctrine in their conuersation For my parte â— am perswaded if feare of eternall torments in Hell that God threatneth by his scriptures will not terrify them the fayned paines of purgatory which they can by their owne Masses and other like merits auoide will not restraine them The laye men are exhorted to submitte them selues to the priestes who haue such an ample commission that they may both pardon and punish sinne euen as Christ him selfe did vpon earth But what auayleth this submission when the ignorant or negligent priest that weigheth not the penaunce in euen ballance with the offence doth not by his absolution or pardonning take awaye one houres torments of purgatory as both M. Allen him selfe in effect confesseth and the Maister of the sentence also teacheth vnto whome M. Allen hath bene so good a scholler that he hath borowed of him not onely his iudgement but in diuerse places his very wordes also he hath translated Of the nature and condicion of Purgatory fire the difference of their state that be in it from the damned in Hell vvith the conclusion of this booke CAP. XIII 1 IF any curious heade list of me demaunde where or in what parte of the worlde this place of punishment is or what nature that fire is of that worketh by such vehement force vppon a spirituall substance I will not by longe declaration thereof feede his curiosity because he may haue both the example and the like doubt of Hell it selfe and many other workes of God moe The learned may see that question at large debated in the bookes of the City of God and in
the literall exposition vpon the Genesis And yet after all searche that man can make this must be the conclusion with the author of those bookes Quomodo intelligenda sit illa flamma inferni ille sinus Abrahae illa lingua diuitis illa sitis tormenti illa stilla refrigerij vix fortasse a mansuetè quaerentibus à contentiose autem certantibus nunquam inuenitur melius est dubitare de occultis quam litigare de incertis I am sure sayth S. Augustine the Riche man was in wonderfull feruent paine and the Lazare in the rest of a pleasaunt abiding but how or of what nature that Hell flame and fire is to be taken or Abraham his bosom or the glottens tongue or the intollerable thurst in that torment or the drop to quenche his heat All these doubtes can scarsely be dissolued and satisfied to the contentation of him that with humility maketh serche thereof But to contentious and curious ianglers they shall neuer be knowen Therefore better it is to be in doubt of these secrets then to stand in contentious reasoning of thinges vncertaine So must we thinke also of Purgatory that the paine thereof of what condicion so euer it be or where so euer the ordinaūce of God hath placed it is wonderfull horrible And by force of operation representeth the nature of our fire and both by scriptures and doctors is most termed by the name of fire as Hell torment is It worketh so vpon the soule of man as the other did vpon the riche mans soule and all other that be already in Hell before the receyuing of their bodies into the same misery at the generall day of Iudgement And the sensible griefe may be as great of certaine as in the other place of euerlasting damnation as Cyrillus in vita Hieronymi doth declare CAP. XIII 1 THis is a very needelesse discourse vnlesse it were to make vp a browen doosen of chapters to enquire of the nature or condition of purgatory fire c. and then to be able to determine nothing of it If we shall geue credit to those visions reuelations and apparitions which M. Allen defended so pithily in the last Chapter before there is no man knoweth his owne house better thē we may know euery corner of purgatory the place the length the bredth the depth the fire the water the burning the scalding the broyling the frying the whipping the hanging c. At the least wise if M. Allen would haue taken so much foolish paynes as to haue translated out of that worshipfull author which he citeth that which he hath written of the qualitie and condition of the paynes of purgatory he migh◠haue enlarged this chapter by two or three leaues That beastly asse and shamelesse counterfector that calleth him selfe Cyrillus in the deuills name Bishop of Ierusalem writing to such an Augustine as he was a Cyrill of the miracles of S. Ieronym maketh a large discourse of the paynes of hell and purgatory as he learned of Eusebius and of 3. deade men whom Ieronym caused to be restored to life after he had shewed them the paynes of purgatory and hell and this to confute the errour of them that denyed purgatory I would maruell surely whether impudency in him that inuented that fable and set it out vnder the name of Cyrillus were greater then in M. Allen that allegeth his name authoritie as antique authentical sauing that that counterfecter played the foole in the night but Allen bringeth him forth in the brode daye light 2 But this is the greate misery and the difference that such as be in the iudgement of Hell paines haue no hope of mercy no passage from their infinite woe no ende of torment no release of paine no expectation of saluation no comforte by Christ but endlesse desperation hatered of vertue wearinesse of their creation sorowe of their owne being and persons and which is most vntollerable perpetual blasphemy grisely cursing of Gods holy name The other being vnder their mercifull fathers chastisement in purgatory suffer great paine but in quiet peace of conscience in assured expectation and warraunt of their saluation in loue of Gods iustice and iudgement euen towardes them selues in the vnity of the spirite of God bearing testimony of them that they be the children of the houshoulde in perpetuall experience of mercy and grace in daily hope of release in perfect loue with out all sinne or daunger of sinning in gladde conceiuing the benefit of their redemption for the remission of their offenses past and in worship and confession of Gods holy name then and after for euer more And this is the company of the inferiour partes which boweth their knee and reuerenceth the name of Iesus as the Apostle saith when the other which be in the deepe hell the Prophet bearing witnesse can not prayse nor confesse his blessed name which they both detest blaspheme to their vnspeakable paine There hath euer bene sence the death of the first vertuous man till this houre and so shall be till the day of latter iudgement a company of elect and chosen people that do honour God in the loughers partes as till Christes descending to Hell the fathers resting place in generall and some that suffered for sinne further paine beside And after continually as before the place of Purgatory to endure for the punishment of certaine till the latter day when all the elect shall reigne without griefe or peine with Christ for euer more And although the place of this torment and the nature therof be not certainely determined nor knowen to any but such as God of his wisedome list reuele it vnto yet it is with great probability and likelihood thought of such learned men as deserue singular credit that it is in the lower roumes as sinus Abrahae may appeare by scripture to haue bene and separated from hell as it was because all places of punishmēt after this life be called of holy writers conformably to scripture Inferna But with curious searche of these thinges as we be not charged so to beleue that iustice is there done vpon sinners by much sorow and torment of their soules by the authority of Gods worde and Church we are of necessity induced The care and consideration whereof if it take deepe impression in our mindes I am sure it shall worke exceding greate chaunge in our whole life and maners 2 Here we are taught what the difference is betwene the paynes of hell and purgatory This difference is not in quality nor quantity but in respect of continuance and of the persons The one is eternall the other temporall they that are in one are desperate and impatient the other in hope and patience without sinne or daunger of sinning Surely if those tales were true that are told of them that are in purgatory there appeared in some but smal patience One that was promised by an Angell that he should tarry but 3. dayes
altare dei fieret eorum memoria in communione corporis Christi for the soules of the faithfull deceased be not seuered from the Church which is already the kingdome of Christ els there shoulde be no memory kepte for them at the altare in the communion of the body of Christ. By the force of this vnity what so euer is profitably practised in this worlde one for a nother as prayer almes fasting Sacrifice the same thinkes may and ought by the example of the Church to be carefully and with out ceasing procured for the helpe of our frends and Christian brethern departed And Athanasius that great pillar he by a meruelous fit example setteth forth how the soules in an other worlde may haue the benefites of the Church or Christian people deriued downe vnto them and what sensible feele of release they haue when we desire God for them Quemadmodum cum in campo vinea virescit vinum in vase occlusum rebullit ac propemodum feruet ita etiam â—entimus quod peccatorum animae diuinis beneficijs incruentae Hostiae gratiarum actionis pro ipsis habitae gaudeant vt idem solus nouit ordinat deus noster qui in viuos mortuos dominium exercet As when the vine abrode in the fielde doth spring and waxe greene the wine salfely kept in barells at home doth also worke in it selfe and in a maner buyle euen so as we iudge the soules of sinners through the benefit of the vnbloudy host and sacrifice of thankes gyuing done for them may waxe ioyfull and gladde as the same Lord and God onely knoweth how and hath ordeyned who exercyseth his might vpon the liue and the deade See I pray you how he by the action of Gods Church in the holy Masse in which the vnbloudy hoste and oblation is bestowed hath founde some way of carying downe the benefite of Christes passion vpon the membres of his body beneth And though some haue wickedly sought vtterly to breake the band of peace betwixt them and vs as they haue cursedly shaken thunity of the liuing amongest them selues yet their mother Christs spâ—use acknowledgeth her owne children still she seeth by the spirit of God whereby she seeth all trueth the sorow of her dearest so farre out of sight but neuer out of minde she in a maner feeleth a parte of her owne body in paine And can not otherwise do but by all possible meanes and approued wayes assay Gods mercy for their deliuery And this naturall compassion of the Church passeth through euery membre thereof and ought to moue euery man by the lawe of nature to procure as much helpe as he may And so much the more do we owe this naturall duety vnto them because they now can not helpe them selues being out of the state of deseruing and place of well working onely abiding Gods mercy in the sore sufferance of paines vntollerable They them selues as yet your brethern and a portion of your body require to be partakers of your benefites They feele ease of euery prayer your almes quensheth their heate your fasting releaseth their paine your sacrifice wipeth their sinnes and sores so strong is the communion of sainctes that what so euer you do that is acceptable it ishueth aboundantly downe to them 2 When all authoritie out of Gods word fayleth you wherby you should proue that the soules departed receiue benefite by the merits of the liuing you flie to the authoritie of men And fiâ—st Augustine must proue that the godly departed are not separated from the Church because memory of them is made at the aultare We nothing doubt but that the soules of the godly departed remaine still in the body of Christ which is his church but we ground vpon better authoritie then the authoritie of Augustine and vpon better proofe then the reason which he allegeth or else we might not be so certayne of it as we are And to the similitude of Athanasius which you note to be Quaest. ad Ant. 34. I aunswere that in the place by you noted there is no such word nor any of his questions ad Antiochum that I can find where so euer you had it Although that booke of questions is easily to be seene of all men and confessed of Nannus one of your owne side to be none of Athanasius doing we say that first it must be proued that the soules departed receiue benefite by masses and then we shall not striue for the maner how but mans authoritie is to weake to carry away so weighty a matter And therefore I will be as bold with you as Augustine was with the Donatistes de pastoribus cap. 8. Auferantur chartae humanae sonent voces diuinae Ede mihi vnam Scripturam pro parte Donati Let mens papers be remoued let the voices of God sound shew me one Scripture for Donatus side euen so M. Allen I will not sticke to vrge you when you leane wholy to the authoritie of men Away with mens writings let Gods word be heard from you shew me but one Scripture to proue all that you haue sayd in this chapter of the merites of the liuing to profite the deade 3 Onely he that is cutte of from this happy society hath no compassion of them nor feeleth not how they are knitt vnto vs by loue and vnity of one heade and one body You shall heare his vnnaturall and worse then heathen wordes Dum mortuos a nostro contubernio subduxit dominus nullum nobis cum illis reliquit commercium ac ne illis quidem nobiscum VVhen the Lorde hath taken the deade out of our company he hath dispatched vs of all intermedlyng with them or they with vs This man was borne to breake the bande of vnity which he hated both in the liue and dead By whose meanes it is now come to passe that those which of reason might clame our aide are vnnaturally disapointed of all such remedies whereby any comforte might to them arise Such lacke of compassion is driuen into our heades that we feele not the woe of our owne fellowes our kinne our brethern and our owne membres It is a thousand yeare and more sith a holy father not hauing halfe the cause that we nowe haue yet noted the peoples lacke of compassion towardes the departed in these wordes They that lie in torment vntollerable crie out for succour and few there be that make aunswere they woefully call but there is none to comfort them O Brethern what a kinde of cruellty is this O how much inhumanity is this those that in their life time suffered much sorow for our sakes now crie againe for our ayde and we regarde them not Lo how the sicke calles and the phisitions are at hande the hogge groneth and the whole hearde groutleth with all the poore asse falleth and euery man helpes him vp in hast but the faithfull alone calleth in his greuous torments and there is none that aunswereth Lo our
vnkindnesse saith this doctor and lo our lacke of compassion But because all this forgetfullnesse commeth by the wicked suggestion of these late deuilish opinions which mainteine that the prayers of the liuing or their workes do not extende to the deade in Christ therefore for the destruction of this vnkind heresie and planting in our heartes with the trueth the feeling of our housholde fellowes sores I shall proue that in all times as well of nature as the lawe and Gospell the faithfull men haue euer ioyned in all their prayers and acceptable workes the soules departed as vnto whome by right of their communion and fellowship in faith the reliefe of Gods grace and Christes merits do appertayne Therefore this once declared let vs except them from no painefull worke of the liuing nor charitable deede nor good prayer nor sacrifice nor teares no nor from the inward dolour nor loue of mans heart Learne to know what it is to be in a common body and thou shalt streight perceiue that the least motion of thy mind stirred by Gods grace shall be caried to the reliefe of that part which thou pitied and most intended 3 Here but that you haue a pleasure to spue out your pestilent poyson against that noble light of Gods Church M. Caluine is nothing that neede any such exclamation which you make with open mouth as though Caluine denyed the communion of Saincts which he doth most constantly affirme euen in the same place out of which you haue rent those words that you so bite and teare with your venimous teeth lib. 3. cap. 20. sect 24. where he speaketh against inuocation of Sainctes who being in rest with God he sayth are not to be drawne by the prayers vnto earthly cares of our necessities which eyther they know not or they can not helpe For that office of charitie which the godly doe exercise in this life by praying one for an other is grounded vpon the commaundement of God and vpon his promise which two thinges are the chiefe to be considered in prayer But all these reasons concerne not the dead whom whē the Lord hath remoued from our company he hath left vs no intermedling with them nor them with vs so farre as we can conceiue by any coniectures These be Caluins wordes by which he meaneth that although the affection of charitie remaine in the deade yet it is not shewed by looking to our earthly necessities which they know are subiect to the prouidence of god Moreouer they haue not that we know by the Scripture any commaundement or promise to cause them to pray for vs neither haue we any to pray to them And this is that intermedling which Caluine denyeth to be betwene the deade the liuing namely such as is betwene them that are liuing among them selues As for the exhortation of him that wrote to his brother in the desert what so euer he was or how long so euer it be since he wrote because it hath not authoritie in the word of God I weigh it as the words of a man whose credite in diuine matters is nothing without the word of God. VVhat the Church of God hath euer principally practised for the soules departed by the vvarraūt of holy Scripture vvith the defense of the Machabees holy history against the heretikes of our time CAP. III. 1 BVt amongest so many meanes of helpe these haue bene euer counted most soueraigne Sacrifice prayers almes and by example of scripture most commended Though fasting added vnto any of them hath singular strength in this case and euer was ioyned in all earnest sute made to God for our selues or other VVe can not better begin to shew the practise hereof then at that scripture which sufficiently commendeth at once all three written in the second booke of Machabees in these wordes Iudas hortabatur populum cōseruare se sine peccato sub oculis videntes quae facta sunt pro peccatis eorum qui postrati sunt Et facta collatione duodecim millia drachmas argenti misit Ierosolymam offerri pro peccatis mortuorum sacrificium bene religiose de resurrectione cogitans nisi enim eos qui ceciderant resurrecturos speraret superfluum videretur vanum orare pro mortuis quia considerabat quod hi qui cum pietate dormitionem acceperant optimam haberent repositam gratiam Sancta ergo salubris est cogitatio pro defunctis exorare vt a peccatis soluantur The valiaunt man Iudas exhorted the people to kepe them selues from sinne hauing before their eyes what was fallen for the offensies of them that were slaine And a common gathering being made he sent xij thousand peces of siluer to Ierusalem to offer for the sinnes of those that were departed a Sacrifice being well and religiously minded concerning the resurrection for except he had suerly trusted that such as were slaine shoulde arise againe it might haue bene counted vaine and superfluous to praye for the deade But because he did well consider that such as in piety receiued their sleepe had grace and fauour laide vp for them therefore it is a holy and proffitable meaning to praye for the deade that they may be assoyled of their sinnes So farre the Author of the historie speaketh setting forth most euidently the notable piety of Iudas in exhorting them to releue the departed the like liberall almes of the people the prayers there in the campe and the sacrifice at Ierusalem celebrated for the same purpose In all which doing the scripture much prayseth that worthy zele of Iudas as a thing both profitable to the departed towardes the remission of their offensies and no lesse agreeing to that his especiall hope of the resurrection to come counting it a foly to pray for them of whose resurrection we are not assured VVherby I can not tell whether a man may well gether that such as deny the fellowship of the liue with the deade or condemne prayers made for them steadfastly beleue not the resurrection And in deede if we note well we shall finde that the prayers for the deade haue bene euer taken both as an argument to proue and as a protestation of the faithfull to shewe their minde and faith concerning the resurrection So did Epiphanius that holy father make confession of the Churches faith for the resurrection and immortality of the soule by the praying for the departed and ioyning them to the partaking of the workes of the liue Hi qui decesserunt viuunt sayth he non sunt nulli sed sunt viuunt apud Deum spes est orantibus pro fratribus velut qui in peregrinatione sint Those which be deceased do yet liue and are not by their departure hense fallen to be nothing but they haue their being and yet do lyue before God and there is great hope to their orators or beadsmen praying for them as for such that be in their pilgramage So sayth Damascen that by supplication
holy Scripture may not haue any allowed sence approued to be the meaning of God the author thereof by consideration of the wordes nor conference of one place with an other but it must nedes haue such sence as your Church will fayne vnto it Finally other writinges are of credit according to the authoritie of the writers The holy Scriptures with you haue not credit according to the authoritie of God the author of them but according to your determination that maye conferre or perferre vnto them what you list whereby it is manifest that you Antichristian Papistes receiue onely the names of the canonicall scriptures and the metaphysicall wordes abstract from all sence but the authoritie meaning and credit you vtterly deny to be in them submitting them altogether to your owne selues and your most corrupt peruerse iudgement The rest of your tedious rayling vnto the ende of the chapter I know not why I should aunswere further except it were to waste incke and paper For the stocke of your fructlesse tree being digged vp by the rootes the proude toppes and braue braunches therof must nedes fal downe and wither away with it That the funeralls of the Patriarches both in the lavve of nature and Moises and Christ had practise in them for the reliefe of the soules departed CAP. IIII. 1 NOw therefore I haue great hope to trust so much of all studious readers for that loue which they beare vnto truth that they will geue creditte to the manifest wordes of Scripture which so plainly doe set forth not onely the benefite that ariseth to the departed by prayers but also witnesse that there was practise at Ierusalem by oblation and sacrifice for the same purpose by order of their law For otherwise would that good knight so highly commended neuer haue presumed to bring in any superstitious new vsage contrary to the rule of that Church neither would the Priestes at Ierusalem haue offered for the dead without contradiction vnder the gouernment of so good a bishop neither would the Author of she booke vpon so light a beginning haue praysed the fact or otherwise made mention of it then as of a new deuise of the same man VVhom I doubt not therefore rather to haue followed the continuall custome of the Church then to haue inuented any newe vnknowne order of his owne VVhich may well appeare at this day by the ceremonies and sacrifices of the olde lawe yet superstitiously obserued emongest the dispersed Iewes where emongest other rites of their lawe they offer and make solemne supplication for the soules departed as Antonius Margarita a Iewe that forsooke his profession and became Christian witnesseth in a booke that he made of the faith of the Iewes VVhere he reporteth out of their sacrifice this prayer Deus animarum fidelium recordetur in paradisum cum Abraham Isaac Iacob alijsque integerrimis sanctis collocet that is Lord remember the faithfull soules and place them in paradise with Abraham Isaac and Iacob and other thy perfect Sainctes and holy men And for that purpose they haue a memoriall booke as he sayth out of which the names of the departed are yerely recited But we much neede not this report herein for that may well appeare to haue bene vsed long before Iudas Machabaeus his dayes For what other thing doth that long mourning fasting charitable releuing of the poore and other common afflictions which men tooke vpon them at the obites of their friendes and fathers as well in the law of nature as afterward continually in Moises time what else can they meane but perpetual practise for the rest of their soules Looke how religiously Abraham celebrated the rites of his wiues funerall which the Scripture calleth Officium funeris the office of the Buriall which he fulfilled by weeping and lamentation made ouer the corps Neither can I thinke that the office and iust funeralls stoode in mourning or sorowyng without praying or other remedies of reliefe towardes the departed seeing especially that office of mourning by solemne dirigies as we nowe tearme them had place time and ordre by rule appointed to be executed yea and were not ended by many dayes together nor at one time nother As it appeareth that Ioseph and his brethern executed their fathers funeralls first fourty dayes in Aegypte and then in their owne country celebrabant exequias saith the text seuen dayes together So the children of Israel celebrated Moyses obsequies with thirty dayes solemne mourning in the downes of Moab Not by that weeping which procedeth of priuate affection towardes a mans friende for that can not be limited nor yet prescribed by rule as all these solemne dirigies were But questionlesse this office conteined for the reliefe of the deceased almes prayer fastes and teares all which may well be termed mourning songes or weeping ouer the dead for that time most cōuenient Of which the wise man geueth this precept Super mortuū plora VVeepe ouer the departed And that thou maiest well perceiue these publike rites of solemne dirigies to perteine properly to the due helpe of those for whome they be exercised S. Ambrose doubteth not to affirme that of those burialls in the lawe of nature the necessary obseruation of our Christian dayes monthes and yeares mindes kepte for the deade had their beginning saying thus in his funerall sermon made the fourtith daye solemnely kept for the memory of the noble Emperour Theodosius Eius Principis proxime conclamauimus obitum nunc quadragesimum celebramus assistente sacris altaribus Honorio principe quia sicut sanctus Ioseph patri suo Iacob quadraginta diebus humationis officia detulit ita hic Theodosio patri iusta persoluit quia alij tertium trigesimum alij septimum quadragesimum obseruare consueuerūt quid doceat lectio consideremus defuncto inquit Iacob praecepit Ioseph pueris sepultoribus vt sepelirēt eum repleti sunt ei quadraginta dies Haec ergo sequenda solemnitas quam prescribit lectio Bonus itaque Ioseph qui formam pio muneri dedit c. VVe kept of late the day of this noble kinges buriall And now againe we celebrate his fourtith dayes mind the prince Honorius his sonne assisting vs before the holy altares for as holy Ioseph bestowed vpon his fathers funeral fourty dayes dutie euen so doth this prince procure his fathers obsequies And because some obserue the thirde day and the thirtith other kepe customably the vij and the fourtith let vs looke vpon the text which readeth thus Iacob being departed Ioseph commaundeth the prouisours of the sepulture to bury him and so they did and made vp full fourty dayes in that obite this solemnity then must we fellowe prescribed by the scripture Good was this Ioseph that first gaue vs the forme and fashion of so holy a function By these wordes we see the antiquity of our Christian dirigies and diuersitie of dayes as yet it is vsed in
dead to be practised at those burialls when in so many burialls as are rehearsed in the Scriptures with all ceremonies vsed about them neuer is there one word nay not one sillable to proue prayer for their soules And yet as a man with a marble face you are not ashamed to affirme that rites offices diriges obites trentalls c. were practised by them for the reliefe of the soules in purgatory It may be that much of your paultry by fond imitation was taken of such doings to counterfet the examples of the Patriarkes but once againe I say there is no mention in al the Scripture of prayer for â—he dead at any burial Wherfore the authoritie of Ambrose helpeth you litle who although he commendeth Honorius for solemnising the funeralls of Theodosius by the space of 40. dayes after the example of Ioseph yet he sayth not that prayer for the deade was taken by the example of Ioseph But see M. Allen if you can see any thing whether blind affection carieth you that you can not vnderstand the playne latine of Ambrose or else will not translate it a right Ambrose speaketh not of his fortieth dayes minde but of the solemnitie of his funerall kept 40. dayes togither as in the embalming of Iacobs body was by Ioseph But to say the truth how simple a reason this was to take example of for the time of solemnitie of funeralls it is playne by that place which Ambrose allegeth where it is sayd that 40. dayes were bestowed by the Phisitions or Apothecaries in embalming the body of Iacob to keepe it long from putrefaction And how slenderly he reproueth them that kept 7. dayes funeralls where if his reason were good by example of Iosephs Poticaries to keepe 40. dayes theirs were better by example of Ioseph him selfe to keepe 7. dayes These be the groundes of such superstitions as crept into the Church first by emulation of the Paganes and after seeking for colourable confirmation in the examples of the Patriarkes For auoyding of all which inconueniences that haue risen and may rise by ceremonies practised at burialls the Church of Geneua very wisely godly vseth no more ceremonies in burying their deade then are conuenient for the reuerent laying vp of the corps which is ordayned to ryse agayne with glory Whose still buriall is better then your yelling and howling and their mumming if you will needes so terme it more commendable then you masking 2 But in the second booke of the Kinges â–ª the example of the holy King Dauid is a playne proofe that they fasted also for the deceased Apprehendens Dauid vestimenta sua scidit omnesque viri qui cum eo erant planxerunt ieiunauerunt vsque ad vesperam super Saul Ionathan filium eius super populum super domum Israel eo quod corruissent gladio And Dauid taking holde of his garmentes tore them and so did the men with him and they howled wept and fasted vpon Saul and Ionathas his sonne with the residue of Gods people that there were slaine Now what other thing did Dauid here and his people but that which Iudas Machabeus did afterwarde for the like death of his souldiars I trowe there was no fasting to be found ouer any maner a person lyue or dead for thy selue or other in the whole course of scripture but it was to obteine mercy at Gods hande towardes the partie for whome thou didest it So did this same holy Prophet weepe fast lye on the grounde and change apparell for his childe which he begat of Vrias wife when he lay at the point of death stricken by Gods hande for the punishment of his fathers faulte The which he did as he protesteth him selfe to turne the angry sentence of God if it might be and recouer the childe againe But as soone as the childe was gone he brake of his longe fast geuing his frendes to weete that he tormented not him selfe so of onely naturall compassion towardes the childe or inordinate lous as they thought but to obteine his purpose by such bitter teares and fasting at Gods handes for the childs recouery Fasting then ouer any man and such solemne mourning is nothing els but an effectuall asking of mercy for whome so euer it be done As more plainely it is yet declared in the buriall of Saul and Ionathas before said celebrated by the Galadites and Saules souldiars VVhere as the scripture sayth after they had buried their bodies and bones they fasted vij dayes Et ieiunauerunt septem diebus For no other cause but thereby effectually to aske pardon of their offensies There can I am sure be no reasonable occasion of their fasting alleaged of no man but that which the honorable Bede testifieth for vs in these wordes Recte ad literam pro mortuis vt ad requiem peruenire valeant septem diebus ieiunatur quia post sex huius mundi aetates in quibus in carne laboramus septima est in illo saeculo aetas requictionis animarum carne exutarum in qua beatae tempus illud glorificum quando resurgere mereantur expectant Duely and according to the letter they fasted sayth he for the departed seuen dayes together to obteine rest for them because after the six ages of the worlde in which we trauell in flesh the seuenth age is looked for in that worlde when the soules be loosed from their bodies when the blessed and happy sort shall continually be in expectation of the glorious time by receiuing their bodies in the resurrection againe 2 As we haue had prayer for the dead so now we shal haue fasting for the deade In deede the wordes sounde more like such a matter then any thing that can be sayed of prayer for the deade But the sence is euident they fasted not for them to redeme their soules but they fasted to declare their sorrow because they were slaine with the sworde as it followeth in plaine wordes And yet to make the matter more plaine in the same Chapter followeth a large forme of lameÌ„tation made by Dauid for them where if euer he had vsed prayer for the deade he woulde haue vsed it if not for his father in lawe Saule yet at leste for his dearly beloued and sworne brother Ionathas But no such thing came in his minde as M. Allen foolishly fantysieth of him But M. Allen sayth this matter is more plainly proued by the Galaadites that fasted seuen dayes after the buriall of Saule and Ionathas and he is suer there can no reasonable cause be alleaged of their fasting but onely to aske pardon for their sinnes I take this to be a more resonable cause that they fasted and humbled them selues before God because they did see the wrath of God against the whole people in the calamitie of the king his sonne whose contumelious haÌ„dling by the vncircumcised stretched to the dishonor of god And this was coÌ„mon among the Israelites in any great calamitie
or daunger or to shew their sorrow for prophanation of Gods glory And any of these are more reasonable causes then the superstitious surmise of Beda with his curious conceit of the six ages of the worlde where other make seuen and eight ages 3 And that charitable reliefe of the poore by open almes and doles was also practised for the welth of the departed in the obittes of olde time the scripture it selfe in the fourth chapter of Tobie maketh mention by report of that godly commaundemeÌ„t that the good olde father gaue is sonne herein Panem tuum cum esurientibus comede de vestimeÌ„â—is tuis nudos tege Panem tuum vinum tuum super sepulturam iusti constitue noli ex eo manducare bibere cum peccatoribus Eate thy breade with the hongry and needy and couer with thy clothes the naked Set thy breade and wine vpon the sepulture of the vertuous make not the sinnefull partaker therof which wordes of exhortation can haue no other sense but that as before in the same place he gaue his sonne in charge to bestow vppon all men according to his hability for that there was hope to all charitable almes giuers of Gods mercy so now he warneth him to feede the poore and breake his breade to such especially as should come to the iustes and funeralls of the departed He would neuer haue put him in minde to haue releeued the poore at burialls but for some commodity that might arise to the party deceased for otheâ—wise his charity might haue proffeted the needy at other times as well as vpon mens departure Some tooke foolish occasioÌ„ by this place to set store of meate vpon the graue it selfe where their father or freinde was buried as though the dead had bene desirous of corporall foode The which superstitious error S. Augustine earnestly improueth Other some made great feastes at the daye of their freindes death But the texte is plaine it was the needy and good people that were at those soleÌ„ne exequies or other wise by their prayers might be profitably present in the dayes of memories holden for them which practise was not prescribed as a newe thing to the yong Tobie but it was moued and praised vnto him as a holy vsage of other burialls in those dayes and alwayes before Bona est oratio cum ieiunio elecmosina Prayer is profitable sayth the holy Raphel when it is ioyned with fasting and almes and therefore as the fathers in their prayers for the dead fasted as we haue proued so nowe I doubt not but almes shall crie for mercy at Gods hande for the soule departed vpon whose sepulture these thinges be charitably wroght 3 What else if we had not doles at burialls proued by the example of the Patriarkes all were marred Therefore Tobias must saye for doles But first we haue shewed already by authoritie of Hieronym which is proofe sufficient against the Papist that the Church receiueth not this booke of Tobias for canonicall scripture And secondly if we shoulde receiue it yet here is nothing that helpeth M. Allens cause but his owne simple surmise He sayth in dede the wordes can haue no other sence yet all that he sayeth is not gospell but what if the truer texte of Tobias hath other wordes First in the Greeke there is no mention at all of wine as is in the Latine nor of setting breade and wine vpon the graue of the vertuous but the sence is this As before he exhorted his sonne to feede the hongry with his owne breade and to cloth the naked with his owne garments so nowe he willeth him to spare the breade out of his owne mouth to bury the righteous as he him selfe had done chap. 1. which is a cleere interpretation of this but to geue nothing at all to the vngodly or to be liberall to the rightuous euen to their death and to see them buried honestly As for the iustes and funeralls M. Allen dreameth that the poore came vnto to receiue penny dole or soule breade appeareth in the first and second Chapters how solemne they were when poore Tobie was fayne to steale the bodyes and bury them priuily by night yet vpon that corrupt Latine texte as it should seeme wherevpon M. Allen buildeth they vsed in Affrica to make sumptuous and dronken feastes vpon the graues of men in the places of buriall which they thought not onely to perteine to the honor of the martyrs but also to be some comforte to the soules of the deade This olde superstition Augustine reproueth epist. 64. Aurelio But it is pretily renewed in the funerall feastes of the Papistes as also the selling of oblations for the deade which he in the same place condemneth 4 VVe haue a notable example in the Actes of the Apostles of the force of almes with prayers which wroght life and procured mercy eueÌ„ in the next world For the benefit of faithfull workes and holy prayers will not be limited by the termes of this worlde it will haue course doune so farre as the fellowship of this Christian societie reacheth the deuill and all his abettours can not stoppe the rase thereof The onely shew of certaine cotes with the requeste of the pore widowes that wore them made to Peter the Apostle turned Tabitha to life againe after her departure those garments geuen by her when she was a lieue by the careful trauel of her almes folkes procured reliefe in the worlde to come They warmed the backes of widowes in earth sayth Emissenus and the geuer had comforth of them being gone from the earth It is good we shoulde all learne here that haue receiued benefite of any man in this liefe with loue and carefullnesse not onely in this present worlde but most of all when our frend is departed to represent vnto God before his altare and holy ministers with sorowfull weeping hearty prayer the memory of such thinges as we haue receiued by way of almes or loue at his hand It shall be a soueraigne remedy for his infirmities and the approuedst way to procure Gods mercy that can be The elders of the Iewes making earnest supplication to our Sauiour for the Centurions seruaunt lying in extremitie vsed the memorie of that gentilmans charitable actes in their church as the rediest waye to obteine grace and fauour at his handes They cried out together dignus est vt hoc illi praestes diligit enim gentem nostram synagogam ipse aedificauit nobis Lorde be gratious vnto him he is worthy that benefite for he loueth our nation and hath him selfe founded a Synagoge And S Cyprian sayth notably that good workes make a more effectuall intercession then good wordes he speaketh of the same Tabitha as followeth Circumsteterunt Petrum viduae flentes rogantes pallia tunicas omnia illa quae prius sumpserant indumenta monstrantes nec pro defuncta suis vocibus sed ipsius operibus
membres of our common body and howe being practised by one it serueth before God for an other either in this life or the next our holy father Athanasius by his authoritie might well be a proofe sufficient but he is content to declare it vnto vs by an example and such an example that beside the matter may further put vs in remembraunce of the deuotion of our elders in an other point which the studious reader may marke by the waye thus then he sayth Quod in pauperes collocatur beneficiuÌ„ omnis bonae retributionis est augmentum Itaque pro defuncto oblaturus eundem serues scopum quem qui pro paruulo filio adhuc imbecillo infante interim dum puer aegrotat affert ceram oleum thimiama in templum Domini magna fide acceÌ„dit pueri nomine neque enim puer hoc faceret cum ignoret diuinae regenerationis constitutiones Sic cogitet etiam eum qui in domino morteÌ„ obijt posse offerre ceram oleum caetera quae in redemptioneÌ„ offerri soleÌ„t The benefit bestowed vpon the poore is a soueraigne ground of Gods rewarding And in thy oblations for the departed haue alwaies the same inteÌ„t scope that a father hath practising for the recouery of his sicke child being yong tender VVho for his sick son bringeth into the Church of our Lord God waxe oyle incense and with deuotion and faith lighteth them in the boyes behalfe for that the child him selfe being wholy vnskillful â—f the ordinauncies of our Christianity would neuer go about any such thinge euen so must a man thinke of the deceased persons case that he may doth offer as in an other maÌ„s person waxe oyle such like as coÌ„monly for redeÌ„ptioÌ„ are offered VVith proofe of our matter in hande here may be noted beside the vsuall oblation of thinges apperteining to the mainteinaunce of Church light and lampes setting vp of tapers of singular deuotion for sicke persons representing of our goods and Gods creatures from prophane vse of daily occupation to Gods honour in the temple the vndoubted hope that all faythfull people had as well to procure fauour to them selues thereby as mercy to other for whose sakes they did it and especially that in this mans age that was so auncient these tokens of loue and duety towardes our Lorde and shew of their homage by such externall actes were taken as peculiar ordinauncies and solemne constitutions of our Christianitie These thinges though the hedge of my cause forceth me to let them lightly passe yet as I go by I must needes beholde as steppes of olde maners with some mourning to say the trueth and no litle sorow in the contrary comparing of our corrupte conditions The reader as he list may perchaunce with more leasure or at leaste with lesse iniury to other weye the wonderfull waste that sinne and heresie hath wrought in our dayes of darknesse And wheÌ„ he considereth these thinges that be now of most men counted meere madnesse to haue bene liked allowed preached auouched sent out in solemne workes and writings to the vewe of the world and the sight of all posterity from the very heart spring of the ChristiaÌ„ Church by Athanasius the great O Lord what a mighty man in worde and worke do I nowe name him do I name whose memory is blessed in Gods Church in whose lappe our weeryed mother once before as she hath bene often in a maner learned to take her rest from the forsaken children whose only worde with out all proofe though he neuer speaketh but with weight of reason woulde beare ouer all these pety Protestantes put together so said Tully comparing the Epicures with Plato and Aristotle much more bouldly may I payse all heretiques in the worlde with this mans onely worde Him therefore such a man and so great a pillor of faith when the Catholike shall see proue and allow and practise those same thinges which our maisters of sectes can not abide but most abhorre and by him take a sure taste of his whole time shal he not wounder with all wise men at our downefall so deepe shall he not meruaile vnder one name of Christianitie that goeth yet common to our dayes with those happy times past to be such diuersitie of case and conditions that the one vnder so glorious a name must be nothing else but a cloked paganisme but yet I woulde not he shoulde occupie ouermuch his minde in this consideration till he see the whole ranke of Gods holy host and all the blessed bande of Martyrs and Sainctes stande with vs for the full defense of trueth and the common Church their mother and ours 4 The laste parte of this Chapter hath a boysterous bragge of two great doctors authorities Gregory Nyssene Athanasius the great but they stande both vppon either the credit or iudgement of Damascene neither of which we esteeme so much that we neede greatly regarde them Counterfecting was so common in those dayes and before them to maintaine such errors as coulde not be proued by scripture For to passe ouer that which Tertullian writeth in his booke de Baptismo of the priest of Asia which was conuicted to haue fayned certaine writings of S. Paule to Tecta was not the Nycene Councel the first and the best corrupted with counterfect canons by the Byshoppes of Rome to maintaine their vsurped authoritie in the dayes of S. Augustine which was plainely espied and confuted in the Councell of Carthago 6. cap. 4. 7. And in the Africane Councell were there not three faulse quaternions founde added to the 5. Councell of Constantinople which was espied in the 6. Councell of Constantinople Act. 3. 12. If men woulde be so bolde with generall Councells thinke you that they woulde be afrayde of Gregorius or Athanasius writings And what maner of a Sermon of Athanasius was that which was reade in the 4. action of the 2. Nicene Councell Of the image of Christ and the miracle done in Berytus that when a Iewe strake the image there issued out water and bloude what a shamelesse lye is that which Pope Adrian in his epistle writeth that CoÌ„stantine was clensed of a leprosie and baptised of Syluester at Rome contrary to the Historie of Eusebius who liued in Constantines time and knew him what faulsyfying of authorities is there to proue the worshipping of images out of Gregorie Nissene Basilius Magnus Athanasius and Ambrosius Chrysostome Cyrill and Hieronym with diuerse other in that leude Councell wherfore except you coulde alleage their sayings out of their owne workes I will neuer trouble my selfe to aunswere them although if they were there true authorities there is no cause why we shoulde beleeue either of them both in an article of faith with out the authoritie of the word of god Their time had diuerse errors superstitious ceremonies which they being occupied in fighting against greater heresies that then sprang vp of the Arians Macedonians
full of posing M. Protestant as though you were Iohannes ad oppositum I wil pose you M. Allen an other while or any M. Papiste of you all that hath a forheade to mainteine this trumperie for Clemenâ— the auncient Bishoppes writing Alas Syr what if this be proued counterfect that you saye is so olde and you with out peraduenture lye that of late haue founde it so auncient what grounde haue your schollers then Tertullian hath discharged you of authority of the scripture already how will you proue it then to be a tradition of the Apostles your aunswere wil be still Clenens sayth it But alacke Sir whether is it more licke that Eusebius and Hieronym that lyued neerer to the time of S. Clement by twelue hundreth yeares then you shoulde know or here tell of his epistles and other writings better then you But Eusebius and Hieronym neuer hearde of such writinges as were neuer seen in the Church 13. or 14. hundreth yeares after Clemens his death Where shoulde you haue them then but of some counterfecting knawe that coulde not otherwise maintaine his heresie to be old but by falsyfying and counterfecting a newe that which neuer was in the olde writers heades But to shew that your shamelesse Clement daunceth bare and breechelesse with out all honesty I will yet pose you further and bidde you call your wittes together to aunswere me Whether had you rather graunt that so holy a Pope as Clemens was did erre or â—hat he was a false knaw that woulde father an error vppon so holy a mans name and credit your Syr Clemens decreeth that the fortyeth day must be obserued for the departed according to the olde forme because the people did so obserue the bewayling of Moses But if the scripture affirme that the people bewayled Moses but 30. dayes Deut. 34. Then is your Clement a falsyfier of Gods worde and his foolish decree builded vppon his false grounde How saye you now M. Allen is this Apostolike or apostotaticall is this plaine dealing or Popish counterfecting was Clemens in the Apostles age so ignorant of the scripture or was he an ignorant hypocrite that fayned this vnder the name of Clemens Trueth seaketh not to be mainteined which lyes fayth looketh not to be defended by falsehoode The Church of Christ craueth no counterfected authoritie to establish her doctrine Therefore it is neither trueth nor fayth nor the doctrine of the Church of Christ that you mainteine defend and establish by lying falsyfying and counterfecting but error infidelity and heresie he therefore that will forsake the certainetie of Gods worde to builde vpon the traditions of men for leuing the only pathe of trueth hath a iust rewarde to fall into the pitte of error 5 VVell I will close vp this parte of our talke for Tobies almes borde in the obittes of Christian men with S. Augustines graue iudgement who as he is plaine for the benefite of oblations in the memorialls of mens departures in all placies so here in a maner he ordereth the action thereof for abusies that might thereon arise in his epistle to Aurelius The offeringes sayth he obserued for the soules departed whereof there is no question but profet ariseth to them let them not be ouer sumptuous vpon the mindes of the deceased nor soulde away but geuen with out grudge or disdaine to such as be present and woulde be partaker thereof but if mony be offered it may be distributed out of hande to the poore and then shall not those dayes of their freindes memorialles be to their great griefe forsaken or destitute of companie And the ordre with honeste comelinesse shall be kept continually in the Church So S. Clement him selfe teacheth all them that be called to such dayes of prayers for the departed and to be partakers of those oblations or charitable relieues which were by some honest sober refreshing euen in the Church in those dayes obserued whether they be of the laity or of the priestes he geueth them this lesson Qui ad memorias eorum vocamini cum modestia cum dei timore comedite veluti valentes legatione fungi pro mortuis cum sitis presbyteri diaconi Christi sobrij esse debetis priuatim cum alijs vt possitis intemperantes coercere All you that are called to the funeralles of the departed refresh your selues in measure and feare of God that you may be worthy to be as it were in commission of intreatie for the deade and being priestes or deacons of Christ you are bounde to be sobre euen at home but abrode for others example and discipline 5 You had bene as good to haue left out the comparing of Augustines oblations with Tobies almes borde for that custome which most resembled your fantasie of Tobies almes borde Augustine condemneth where he alloweth oblations for them that sleepe to profit some what Sed quoniaÌ„ istae in caemiterijs ebrietates luxuriosa conuiuia non solùm honores martyrum in carnali imperita plebe credi solent sed etiam solatia mortuorum mihi videtur facilius illic dissuadeâ—i posse istam foeditatem ac turpitudinem si de scripturis prohibeatur oblationes pro spiritibus dormientium quas verè aliquid adiuuare credendum est super ipsas memorias non sunt sumptuosae c. But because this dronkennesses and riotous festes vsed in the Church yeardes of the carnall and vnskillfull people are wonte to be beleued not onely to be the honour of the martyrs but also the comforte of the deade my thinke it were more easy that this filthynesse and beastlynesse may be there diswaded if both it be forbidden out of the scriptures and that the oblations for the spirites of the deade which truely we must beleue doth helpe somewhat vpon the memories them selues be not sumptuous c. But if Augustine had knowen the horrible abuses which grew afterwarde by permission of these oblations he woulde as well haue prohibited them out of the scripture as that hethenish banquettinge in the Church yeardes in honor of the martyrs as for comforte of deade mens soules As for Clement that teacheth the preistes and deacones to be sober and moderate in eating where they were bidden to buriall feastes euen here also he sheweth him selfe in his owne colours As though in the dayes of Clemens when the Church was in great persecution they had nothing els to doe but to keepe sumptuous feastes at their burialls where at the priestes and deacons were in daunger of glouttony dronkennesse as they were in the Popish church when Popery was in the pride seldome temperate or sober and lest of all at burialls and monthes mindes c. That the benefite of prayer and almes appertaineth not to such as dye in mortall sinne though in the doubtefull case of mans beeing the Church vseth to praye for all departed in Christes fayth CAP. VII 1 THus farre we now are broght I trust with proofe and euidence enough with
propitiatory which he affirmeth the Popish priests to doe in their Masse But lest I might seeme to doe them wronge in denying vnto them that priesthoode which is confirmed by othe Psal. 110. Let vs here what the holy Ghost sayeth thereof Hebr. 7. And in as much as Christ was not made priest with out the othe where as they meaning the sonnes of Aaron were made priest with out an othe but he with the othe by him that sayed vnto him the Lord hath sworne will not repēt thou art a priest for euer after the order of Melchizedech by so much is Iesus made suertie of a better testament And among them many were made priestes because they were not suffered to endure by reason of death but he because he abideth for euer had such a priesthoode as passeth not by succession VVherefore he is able perfectly to saue those that come vnto God by him seeing he liueth for euer to make intercession for them For such an high priest it became vs to haue which is holy harmlesse and vndefiled separated from sinners and made higher then the heauens which needed not daily as those high priest to offer vp sacrifice first for his owne sinnes then for the peoples for that did he once for all when he offered vp him selfe For the lawe maketh men high priestes which haue infirmitie but the worde of the othe that was since the law maketh the sonne who is consecrated for euer more Marke well the plaine wordes of this testimonie and iudge indifferently whether I charge them with greater blasphemy then ensueth this there assertion That there priesthoode is confirmed by othe Psal. 110. 4 And yet neuerthelesse good Catholike Christian let vs thus perswade our selues that we haue so longe lost the vnestimable treasure of this holy sacrifice for our greuous sinnes it is our sinnes I say woe is vs therefore which haue deserued this plage which haue set vs at variaunce with God and our mercyfull redemer which haue taken from vs as vnworthy of so great a treasure the daily sacrifice the helpe of those which are a liue the comforte of those which are departed the onely grounde of all religion and acceptable worship of god And our misery is the greater because fewe feele the sore The lacke of this sacrifice for the departed onely with the godly prayers therin was counted when Gods trueth and Church flourished the greatest and extremest punishment that coulde be deuised and euer enioyned for some notable crime to the terrour of other as for horrible desperation for willfull heresie for contempte of the decrees of Gods holy ministers as by the late alleaged place out of S. Cyprian may be very profitably noted Allasse we haue nowe in a manner lost that wholy which then was denied onely to such for their greuous punishments as were heynous offenders Otherwise in earnest consideration of our case can not I thinke but that this blessed iuell is now denied vs of almighty God generally for our greuous offensies which then was denied by his ministers to some one offender for the due punishment of sinne and wickednesse O good reader what would that holy martyr haue saide if he had liued in our dayes when to haue that oblation either for the quicke or deade which once was esteemed so necessary that no Christian man neither coulde in his life nor after his death lacke it is nowe if it selfe odious to most men and which abhorreth me to speake punishable by the lawes of the spiritualty and condemned well neere of all men what weene you this blessed bishoppe woulde haue saide if he had seene the holy hoste and offeringe to haue bene taken awaye which he once affirmed to be so necessary that if it were taken awaye or wasted there were no religion nor worship of God at all woulde not he thinke you with feruent zele of Gods house haue cried out vpon the sinnes of the people the blindnesse of the preachers and pastours the vnworthinesse of these our dolefull dayes and bewailed his owne misery as we shoulde doe ours crying out with an olde blessed father O Deus bone in quae me seruasti tempora vt ista blasphemia sustineam O Lorde that I should be reserued for these times to abide such blaspemie Victor reporteth in his history of the persecution of the Vandalles that were Arians that the Gouernour of that cursed company of cruell heretikes would not suffer the Christian men whome he had slaine to be brought home with seruice and sacrifice but then the good people wounderfully bewailed their case seeing them practise cruelty vpon their soules also in that they would not suffer them to enioyne at their departure and buriall the rites of Gods Church Thus saith that Author Quis vero sustineat atque possit sine lachrymis recordari dum praeciperet nostrorum corpora defunctorum sine solemnitate hymnorum cum silentio ad sepulchra perduci O Lord who coulde haue founde in his heart to beholde then or coulde yet once thinke of it with out teares how he gaue in charge that the bodies of our brethern departed should be brought to the graue and buried with out all solemnity of hymnes in silence and sorowe It was euer giuen to wicked harde harted heretikes to prohibere gratiam mortuis to be vnmercyfull and to staie the fauour of good men from the departed Nouatus as S. Cypriā chargeth him noluit patrem fame defunctum sepelire woulde not bury his owne father deade of honger bane 4 This collorable and hypocriticall complaint containeth nothing for vs needefull for to aunswere for the place of Cyprian is aunswered already But this maye be demaunded of him seeing he calleth the sacrifice of the Masse the onely grounde of all religion and acceptable worshippe of God what religion or worshippe God had before the Masse came into the worlde But this is the howling of the merchantes for the decaye of Babylon because no man byeth their ware any more what so euer they pretend this is the cause of their mourning and this lamentation shal be continued euen vnto hell fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth for euer 5 But to let such men passe with the present bewayling of our vnhappy dayes let vs with more comfort beholde the steppes of good men past how kindely and brother like they haue principally procured the holy sacrifice for their freindes and fellowes gone before For seeing the onely prayers of good men haue bene proued so profitable and the representation of some holy workes of almes hath often moued God to pity as we haue proued towardes the release of the departed his paine what maye we not hope to obteine for our brethern deceased when we shall ioyne in prayers with the holy Angells with the blessed sainctes with Gods holy ministers in the representation of Christes most blessed body and bloude before the face of his father when the whole Church of God
in that honorable action prayeth and Christ him selfe is both the sacrifice and the priest both the asker and the geuer of pardon when the maiesty of God the blessed trinitie is passingly pleaced by the merites of Christes death so liuely set out in these honorable but vnspeakable misteries what maye we not here procure for the soule of the Churchies childe what shall be denied to so humble askers in the presence of Gods owne sonne and begging mercy for his deathes sake And so doth S. Chrysostome assure the faithfull in these golden wordes Non frustra ab apostolis sancitum est vt in celebratione venerandorum mysteriorum memoria fiat eorum qui hinc discesserunt nouerunt quippe illis multum hinc emolumeÌ„ti fieri multum vtilitatis stante siquidem vniuerso populo manus in coelos extendente coetu item sacerdotali verendoque proposito sacrificio quomodo deum non placaremus pro istis orantes It was not for nought that the Apostles decreed and ordeined that in the celebration of the honorable mysteries there shoulde be an especiall memoriall of the departed for they right wâ—ll knewe greate commodity and benefite to arise there vpon For the whole multitude holding vp their handes towardes heauen together with the company and quiere of priests and the dreadfull sacrifice set forth before all men how is it possible but we shoulde appeace Gods wrath praying for them looke ye what this mans iudgement was and see from whense he had it euen of the holy Apostles â–ª I warraunt you and no worse nor later founders But of that pointe for the full deriuing of our Christian vsage from the first fathers of our faith more conuenient place shall be geuen herafter Nowe I will serue the cause and the readers desire first with certaine peculiar examples of most learned and godly fathers worthy of all credit in the godly prouision for certeine of their dearest friendes by sacrifice and prayer both made by them selues procured by others That we may haue here not onely whome to beleeue teaching the trueth but whome to followe practising the same with deuotion which they preached with constancie before 5 Not altogether out of hope yet to find some foolish merchantes that will paye dearly for vnprofitable wares you comforte your selfe after your complainte exhorting men to procure the holy sacrifice for their freindes and fellowes why M. Allen if there be either such necessity or such profit of that sacrifice wherefore doe not your priests with out procurement offer it vp to the vttermost aduauntage that maye be had by it But you must haue procurers yea you must haue good paye maisters or els the olde prouerbe must be true No peny no pater noster As touching the place of Chrysostome I haue shewed already by his owne interpretation that although he allow prayers for the dead vsed in time of the celebration which he calleth sacrifice yet he alloweth no sacrifice in deede but onely a thankes geuing in remembraunce of the sacrifice of Christ. But where he sayeth it was decreed by the Apostles that in the celebration of the holy misteries a remembraunce should be made of them that are departed he must pardon vs of crediting because he can not shewe it out of the actes and writinges of the Apostles And we will be bolde to charge him with his owne saying Hom. De Adam Heua Satis sufficere credimus quicquid secundum predictas regulas Apostolica scripta nos docuerunt vt prorsus non opinemur Catholicum quod apparuerit prefixis sententijs contrarium we thinke it sufficeth enough what so euer the writinges of the Apostles haue taught vs according to the fore sayed rules in so much that we compt it not at all Catholike what so euer shall appeare contrary to the rules appointed And againe In Genes Hom. 58. Vides in quantam absurditatem incidunt qui diuinae scripturae canonem sequi nolunt sed suis cogitationibus permittunt omnia Thou seest into how greate absurdity they fall which will not follow the canon of holy Scripture but permitt all thinges to their owne cogitations but if we be further vrged we will alledge that which he sayth In Euan. Ioan. Hom. 58. Qui sacra non vtitur Scriptura sed ascendit aliunde id est non concessa via fur est He that vseth not the holy Scripture but clymeth an other way that is by a way not allowed is a theefe We may be as bold with Chrysostome as he sayd he would be with Paule him selfe in 2. ad Tim. ho. 2. Plus aliquid dica ne Paulo quidem obedire oportet si quid dixerit proprium si quid humanum sed Apostolo Christum in se loquentem circumferenti I will say somewhat more we must not be ruled by Paule him selfe if he speake any thing that is his owne and any thing that is humane but we must obey the Apostle wheÌ„ he carieth Christ speaking in him Wherfore seeing it is certayne by testimony of Iustinus Martyr that there was no mention of the deade in the celebration of the Lords supper for more then an hundreth yeares after Christ we must not beleue Chrysostome without Scripture affirming that it was ordeyned so by the Apostles That the practise of any pointe in religion maketh the most open shevve of the fathers faith And that all holy men haue in plaine vvordes and most godly prayers vttered their beliefe in our matter CAP. IX 1 ANd I take the open practise of any point to be a more pithy protestation of a mans faith then by wordes can be made Therefore if a man were doubtfull either of the trueth of any article or of the meaning of some doctors wordes looke the same mans practise and it shall put him out of doubt thereof straight wayes as for an example seeme some wordes of S. Augustine to make for the sacramentaries heresie that Christ is in the honorable sacrament but by figure or Theodoretus or any other auncient fathers declaration are their wordes doubtfull to the reader leaue the wordes then if thou sincerely seeke for trueth with out contention seeke out if thou can some practise of those same men and that Church where they liued for the same point But what waye of worke in this matter consisting in doctrine may assure vs of their belefe of whose wordes we doubted before Mary sir this looke how they behaued them selues in the receiuing of it in the ministering of it in the carefull keping of it whether they did adore it with godly honour whether they solemnely shewed it to the people to be worshipped whether they praide by solemne and formall wordes vnto it whether they taught their children to call it God and Christ yea so farre that Augustine affirmeth that the children in his dayes till they were after instructed thought that God appeared in the shape of breade as all these yongers seeing the honour reuerence of their elders
and them selues nurtered to holde vp their handes and knocke their breastes must yet needes meruail how these outward formes came to so holy an vse further whether the Christian people were not sclaundered for worshipping and doing sacrifice to Ceres and Bacchus when the wicked infidells sawe their behauiour towardes the holy Hoste whether it was not vsed in working of miracles in driuing away deuills in daungerous times of tempests of trauelling of sickenesse and in other necessities VVell these be plaine practises no heretike can denie but they haue bene so vsed of the whole Church of God with many such other like in that holy action which can not in any case stande with bare breade or any other way of presence but onely the proper true and bodily presence of Christes owne person A doctors wordes may be misconstrued may be picked out of place may be writhen and wastred by false teachers but a mans example can not lightly be misconstrued And therefore heretikes whose purpose is alwayes by sutteltie to deceiue the simple will neuer make discours by the practise of the Church or exercise and example of the auncient learned men through out the Church of Christ hauing enough for their meaning to racke a place or two out of the fathers whole workes that may seeme to the ignoraunt to set forth their errour So if thou woulde knowe whether that place that our aduersaries impudently doe alleage out of Gregory the great against the soueraignty of the see of Rome was in deede written for their seditious purpose beholde the practise of the same father and thou shal s finde him selfe exercise iurisdiction at the very same time when he wrote it in all prouincies Christianed through out the worlde both by excommunication of byshoppes that gouerned not well by often citation of persons in extreme prouincies by many appeales made vnto him by continuall legacies to other nations sent either to conuert them to the faith or to gouerne in their doubtfull affaires and by all other exercise of spirituall iurisdiction Is it not now a very false suggestion to the poore people that this blessed man in so plaine vtteraunce of his meaning by workes and not by wordes shoulde yet be brought as a witnesse to condemne him selfe though the wordes being well vnderstande make for no suche meaning in deede as by others it hath bene sufficiently declared The like impudencie it is to alleage S. Bernarde against the Masse or the presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament Good man I dare say for him he sayde Masse euery daye if he were well at ease For other busines did not commonly let them in those dayes from that worke of all other most necessarie So the reciting out of S. Ambrose for the improuing of inuocation of holy Sainctes is no more but an abuse of the simples ignorance knowing well that he and all other of that time did practise prayers both often to all holy martyrs and sometimes peculiarly to such whome for patronage they did especially chuese of deuotion amongest the rest I speake not this that any might hereby iudge the doctors wordes to stande against their owne deedes but that euery man maye perceiue that where the workes and practise of all men be so plaine their words in some one place founde darke can not by any meanes be preiudiciall to that trueth which in all other placies they plainely set forth by wordes and by the euident testimonie of their owne practise to the worlde proteste the same Therefore I woulde exhorte all men in Christes name for their owne saluations sake to take heede how they giue credit to these libelles conteining certaine wrasted places out of the doctours workes against any trueth which by the further discourse of vsage and practise they are not hable before the learned to iustifie And therefore that all mistrust of vntrue dealing maye be farre from vs I will as I saide let them haue the feeling and handling of our cause throughly They shall behold in examples of most noble personagies both for their name vertu and learning the peculiar practises in praying and Masse saying for the deade both in the auncient Greeke and Latine Churchies CAP. IX 1 NOwe shall we haue the practise and examples of the olde fathers concerning sacrifice and prayer for the dead And here M. Allen before he commeth to the matter maketh much a do to shew how much more certayne the practise is then the wordes of any doctor because the wordes may be mistrusted or wrested the practise can not be altered As though he could shew vs any practise but that which is vttered in their wordes in which if there be any obscuritie or improprietie there shall be as great cōtrouersie of their workes as of their doctrine as they vsed the name of sacrifice in their teaching so they vse it in declaring what they did practise according to their teaching And therefore it is not worth a straw that M. Allen thinketh we may knowe their meaning rather by their practise then by their wordes except he could either in picture or in vision describe vnto vs euery thing that they did But let vs consider the examples of those thinges which he bringeth in to proue that practise is more certeyne then wordes First he can not deny but the wordes of Augustine and Theodoretus stand with vs that the sacramēt of Christes supper is a figure of his body and bloode and not the same naturally But the practise must expound the words not to stand with vs For they did so carefully keepe it adore it shew it to be worshipped prayed to it yea they taught children to call it God and Lorde which they would not haue done if they had not beleued it to be the very body of christ For this is cited 1. Theodoret. Dial. 2. in the margent His wordes be not set downe because they be directly against transubstantiation and nothing fauouring the grosse imagined presence of Christes body in the sacrament for he calleth the sacrament signa mystica the mysticall signes and the diuine mysteries which represent the body of Christ that is a true body and not fantasticall or absorpt of the diuinitie as the Eutichians dreamed wherefore it is playne that the adoration he speaketh of is nothing else but the reuerent estimation of the sacrament to be that which by Christ it is ordeyned to be and not any knocking or kneeling as M. Allen would haue vs beleue Augustine also vppon the 98. Psalme is cited belike to proue the adoration who in deede alloweth the adoration of the body of Christ whereof that is a sacrament but neither can you proue out of that place that he would haue the sacrament honored nor that the sacrament is the very body of Christ but euen in the same place speaking of the sacrament he sayth in the person of Christ non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis bibituri illum sanguinem quem fusuri sunt
conditio sepulturae pompa exequiarum magis sunt viuorum solatia quà m subsidia mortuorum Non tamen ideo contemnēda abijcienda sunt corpora defunctorum maxime que iustorum fidelium quibus tanquam organis vasis ad omnia bona opera sanctus vsus est spiritus Curious prouision for the buriall and the pompe of the solemne obittes be rather done for the solace of the lieue then for helpe of the deade neuerthelesse the bodies of the departed namely of faithfull folkes may not be contemned or cast forth the which the holy Ghost vsed as vessells and instruments of well working By all which thinges it may well be noted that some thinges haue bene vsually practised in funeralls for thankes geuing to almighty God as Hymnes and Psalmes other some for decent comelinesse and solace of the liuinge as the place of the buriall the lights the ringing and such like although euen these things proceeding of loue and deuotion be after a sorte meritorious to the doers and a helpe to them for whome they be procured and good motions and memories of mans duety For which causies those and the like haue bene vniformelie vsed through out the whole Catholike Church from the beginning But the principall thinges perteining to the iustes of the departed be prayers and sacrifice and other such like whereby they are assuredly much proffited by release of their paines So saith S. Augustine in these wordes Non existimemus ad mortuos pro quibus curam gerimus peruenire nisi quod pro eis siue altaris siue eleemosinarum sacrificijs solemniter celebramus Let vs neuer thinke that any other thinge properly apperteineth to the reliefe of the departed sauing the solemne sacrifice of the altar almes and prayer And therefore as the saide holy doctour confesseth the worthinesse of the place where man is buried of it selfe profiteth not at all but in respect of the holy prayers which be there rather made then els where and the patronage of holy martyrs and sainctes to whome he nothing doubteth but intercession may profitably be made for the deceased for which cause as it may appeare by Paulinus men were very desirous euer in the primitiue Church to be buried by some blessed martyrs body And so must we thinke also of buriall by the reuerent holy sacrament that it wonderfully helpeth man not for the placeis sake although the deuotion of the desirer is therin commēdable but because the liuing may there effectually commende the departed to God in the time of the holy sacrifice may be put in remembraunce to call vpon Christes blessed person there present for the soule of that man which with care and study laide his body in the hope of resurrection by the soueraigne holy body that is already risen againe And this was the cause that our forefathers from Christes time till our dayes haue had respecte and desire as occasion serued to be buried there where by ordre prayers and sacrifice were daily had and where the patronage of holy sainctes might best be procured It is a high point of wisdome surely good reader onely to see what godly wisdome our fathers vsed in shew of their zele faith and Christianity As it is an vntollerable arrogancy and a singular signe of infidelity to laugh at and blaspheme those thinges whereof not the prowdest heretike that liueth hath any intelligence at all Obcoecauit enim eos malitia eorum For their owne malice hath blinded them 3 But let vs now followe you into Africa First you allege Augustine in his booke de cura pro mortuis agenda wherin he is so full of doubtes that he knoweth not him selfe what to determine but that he will hold the common opinion receiued in his time But this pasteth M. Allen that you will content your selfe with Augustines authoritie that the pompe of buriall c. profiteth not the deade but that you will haue lightes ringing c. proceding of loue and deuotion to help them for whom they are procured If you may goe beyond Augustine why may not we come short of him But in the 18. chapter he nameth the sacrifice of the aultar to be profitable to the deade This soundeth somewhat like the matter but if it be well marked it maketh nothing for the propitiatory sacrifice of the Masse for euen in the same place he calleth it the sacrifice of almes which is but a sacrifice of thankes giuing And that by this sacrifice he meaneth not the body of Christ nor a propitiatory sacrifice is manifest in his booke de fide ad Petrum diaconum cap. 19. where he sayth that Christ offered him selfe for vs that sacrifice whereby God was reconciled and that the Church offered to Christ the sacrifice of breade and wine in faith and charitie which is a thankes geuing and memoriall of his death The body of Christ is not offered to him selfe but thankes giuing is offered to him for the offering of his body for vs His wordes are Firmissimè tene nullatenus dubites ipsum vnigenitum c. Hold most stedfastly and nothing doubt then that the only begotten sonne of God being made flesh offered him selfe for vs a sacrifice oblation for a sweete fauour vnto God to whom with the father and the holy Ghost by the Patriarches Prophets and Priestes in time of the olde Testament beastes were sacrificed and to whom now that is in the time of the new Testament togither with the father and the holy Ghost with whom his diuinitie is all one the holy Catholike Church throughout all the worlde ceaseth not to offer the sacrifice of breade and wine in faith and charitie For in these carnall sacrifices there was a figuring of the flesh of Christ which he him selfe being without sinne should offer for our sinnes But in this sacrifice there is thankes giuing commemoration of the flesh of Christ which he offered for vs and of his bloode which the same God shed for vs Nowe for the other poynt of inuocation of Sainctes M. Allen affirmeth that S. Augustine neuer doubteth but intercession may be made vnto them for the deade who so euer will take paynes to reade the treatise de cura pro mortuis agenda shall find nothing else but doubtes and questions of that matter as cap. 5. Cum ergo mater fidelis filij defuncti corpus desyderauit in Basilicam martyris poni si quidem credidit eius animam meritis martyris adiuuari hoc quod ita credidit supplicatio quaedam fuit haec profuit si quid profuit Therfore when the faithfull mother desired the body of her faithful sonne departed to be layd in the Church of the Martyr if she beleued that his soule might be helped by the metites of the martyr this that she so beleued was a certeyne supplication and this profited if any thing profited Here Augustine doubteth whether supplications to the Martyr profite any thing or no. Moreuer he can not
that was the worst and cursed was he that was counted the best then is our case most carefull then are we worse then all other nations that neuer receiued the name of Christ then are we worse then we were before our conuersion then to be shorte there is no religion no Christ no God no hope of saluation 2 I am content to staye with you and ponder as much as is meete the conuersion of the Saxones vnto the faith of christ And first I saye that you reason both falsely and foolishly to proue that either all opinions were true or else all false that the Saxones receiued at there first conuersion For though prayer for the deade and other superstitious opinions then receiued were false yet doth it not follow that all that then was taught them for Christianity was false For although Augustine had bene voyde of all true articles of the faith yet the byshoppes and christian teachers of the Brytish nation in whose ayde they required and at last obtayned to the conuerting of the Saxones reteyned the foundation of fayth Iesus Christ and the onely sacrifice of his death And this was the fayth that was receiued euen of the Saxones as appeareth by those homylies that yet remaine in the Saxon tongue appointed to be reade vnto the people for their instruction and namely in that printed Saxone homylie which was appointed to be reade at Easter where in is declared not onely the faith of the Church at that time concerning the sacrifice of Christ his death but also that heresie of popish transubstantiation and the reall presence of Christes body in the sacrament is pithily confuted And therefore it is altogither vntrue that you say M. Allen that they did institute a sacrifice to the defacing of our redemption as you do that they did adore the sacrament as the natural body of Christ as you doe or counted it a â—â—opitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and the deade as you doe although they vsed vnprofitable prayers for the deade and many other superstitions Neither doth it follow that all that taught or beleued those errours so long as they builded vpon Christ the only foundation haue perished or that all they taught was false because some thing was vntrue or that God hath deceaued vs with fayned miracles which Satan hath shewed to set vp the kingdom of Antichrist euen in the temple of God with all lying signes and wonders 2. Thes. 2. To conclude no truth is false no vertue is vice no good thing is euill because all was not true all was not vertue all was not good that was receiued and practised among them 3 All which things if they repugne to common sense and reason and to the comfortable hope of our saluation which we haue receiued from God by Christ Iesus and the assured testimony of the spirite of God that we be a part of his chosen Church sanctified in his holy name by the word of truth and life which we by the ordinary ministery of man haue receiued signes and wonders confirming their calling and doctrine then this religion which they planted first in our country must nedes be in all points both holy true and accepâ—able vnto god Then as by that religion our fathers were ingraffed first into Christes body misticall which is the Church in which till this day they haue kept the high way to saluation so who so euer forsaketh this or any principall article or braunch thereof and so leaueth that Church into which we first entered at our conuersion he leaueth assuredly life and saluation and without all doubt euerlastingly perisheth Amongest which pointes of doctrine our aduersaries can not deny but the saying masse and offering for the deade the almes and prayers for the departed was taught with the first and proued by miracles with the rest The which either to deny were ouer much discredit of the antiquitie and plaine impudencie or else to attribute them to the deuills working were open vntollerable blasphemy 3 There is nothing that you saye in this parte or that you can say in this respect to proue that the religion here receiued was in all pointes holy true and acceptable to God because it was in some and those the chiefe but it may be sayed by the nations of the Gothes and Vandalles which were first conuerted from hethenish idolatry to the profession of the name of Christ by the Arrian heretikes to defend that there religion was in all pointes holy true and acceptable to God or by them that were conuerted by the Donatistes Nouations or any other heretikes For although the Arrians were blasphemous heretikes yet they tought many thinges truely and soundly concerning the faith of christianitie And therefore no more then the religion of the Arrians who first turned those nations was true in all pointes though it were in many no more I saye was euery article that was tought vnto the Saxons which were conuerted by superstitious Romanistes in all pointes true notwithstanding that many things and the principall were true So much therefore as may be iustified by the worde of God of that doctrine is holy true and acceptable to God but that which is contâ—ary to the doctrine of the holy Scriptures is neither receiued from God nor Christ neither hath it any testimony of his spirite by what presumptuous words oâ— apperance of signes and wounders so euer it be vttered Neither is it any greater offence for the English men to renounce the error of praying for the deade or abusing the communion to the similitude of a sacrifice or any other superstition then or at any time after receiued then it was for the Gothes or Vandalles to forsake the hereticall and blasphemous opinions of the Arrians by whome they were first perswaded to reuerence the name of Christ or for any other that were turned by any heretikes to forsake their first errors and geue place to the trueth after reueiled vnto them And whereas you affirme that we can not deny but that Masse offering almes and prayer for the deade were taught with the first and proued by miracle with the rest we may be bolde to deny that they were at the first taught so grossely as they be now maintained impudently And as for miracles I meane such as were prophecied to be the efficacy of error in the kingdome of Antichrist we will confesse that these and like errors had alwayes great plenty to establish them as they which had no authoritie out of the holy Scriptures to approue them 4 Yea this doctrine hath brought the Church to this bewtifull order in all degrees as we haue seene All the noble monuments not onely in our common wealth but through Christes Church doe beare sufficient testimony of our first faith herein This doctrine as the whole world knoweth founded all Bishoprikes builded all Churches raised all Oratories instituted all Collegies indued all Schooles mainteyned all hospitalles set forward all workes of charity and religion of what
taking away of this olde faith of praying and offering for the dead all the workes of the same faith which ishued downe from that fountaine might shrinke with all or returne to the founders againe because there is no rowme to fulfil their willes how many Churches and Chappelles what Colledges or hospitalls woulde our newe no faith bring forth VVould not euery bishoppes wife builde a Church thinke you or founde a Colledge in such a necessitie lest their husbands shoulde be driuen to serue in a reformed french barne 6 Nowe as touching your vaine supposing if all such landes as were geuen to mainteine prayers for the deade or other like purposes either good or supposed to be good should reuerte to the heyers of their first founders for not performing the intent of the founders perhaps fewe monasteries colledges or hospitalles In Italy Spayne Fraunce or Flaunders shoulde enioyâ— one halfe peny worth of their landes or reuenewes They ment not onely to be prayed for but to be prayed for by men of honester conuersation then the greatest parte of those cloysterers are They are too well knowen to the worlde to be taken for that they be called holy religious and chaste But suppose as you sayde that we had no manner of Churches to assemble in though byshoppes wiues be not able to builde them yet we doubt not but in the time of peace and tranquilitie vnder godly princes we shoulde haue as many and as faire builded Churches as the religion of Christ hath neede of Haue you not hearde of the Churches builded in Orleans and Antwerpe other places by the professors of the Gospell But if it were in time of persecution and tyranny I doubt not but all godly bishoppes had rather serue in a french reformed barne then in a popishe gilded minster And how so euer you iest like a scornefull caytifie of those holy assemblees of Gods children in Fraunce there barnes are more like those caues and vaultes vnder the earth that the olde Christian byshoppes were content to serue in before the time of Constantine theÌ„ your Idolatrous Babylonicall temples are like those princely buildings that by Constantine and other Christian princes were first set vp for the publicke exercise of Christian religion 7 One of these mocke byshoppes complaines very sore in a booke of his that men be not now bent with such zele and deuotion to preferre Gods honour in maintenaunce of his Ministers as they were in olde time and as Constantinus with the like christiaÌ„ Princies in the primitiue Church were But the good man marked not wherevpon this colde deuotion ariseth he considereth not that this is the fructlesse effect of so idle a false faith as his owne lordship preacheth he would not see that the maintenaunce of Gods honour both by liefe landes and goods in the peculiar fructe of that charitable louing faith which the Catholikes doe professe he weyed not well that the great grauntes of Constantinus were made to Syluester Bishop of Rome and not to the maried Byshop of Duresme He remembred not that the like holy workes of the noble kinges of our owne countrie were practised vpon such as wouldâ— professe the trueth and serue the altar and not vpon false pastors that were destroyers of all altars Such honorable portions were parted out for Gods lot and not taken from the worlde to goe to the worldely againe Thinke you any man were so minded to take from his owne wife and children either landes or goods to bestow on priestes babbes or bedfellowes No no God knoweth it was separated from them selues to the sacrifice to the priesthoode to the honour of Gods Church and ministerie The which thinges by your owne preaching my lordes decaide woulde you haue the Prince or peoples deuotion towardes you as is was and woulde be still if you were like your predecessors and serued the altar as they did I wisse if the olde S. Cuthbert Wilfride and William whome they compare in holynesse to horsies so good is their opinion of their holy auncieters had bene of the same religion that the occupiers of their roumes now be all the Prelates in England might haue put their rentes in a halpeny purse Come in againe come in for Christes sake come in to the Church againe serue the altar and then you be wortâ—â— to liue of the altar followe our fathers and you shall be loued as our fathers were confesse that religion which our owne Apostles first taught and we all haue beleued and all the workes of Gods Church protest to be true and then you shall be blessed of God and honoured of men 7 You are a priuileged person as your owne talke doth declare and therefore you may prate what you list if he be a mocke bishoppe which beside his excellent learning is also a painefull and diligent preacher of the Gospell what are those vnlearned Asses and rechlesse ruffians of your secte which haue nothing of a bishop but a rotchet and a myter or because I will not charge you with the worst what are they which if they haue some more learning then the rest of which number there are but fewe yet they count it the least part of their office to preach and teach which S. Paule counteth to be chiefe part of a Christian shepeheard ouerseer But to leaue the name come to the matter you mistake that godly mans complaint if you thinke he meaneth of superfluous buyldinges of Synagoges whereof you speake or the vnnecessary enryching of Prelates whereof you meane when he speaketh of the necessary sustentations of a great number of Pastors which through the rauening of your gluttonous Monkes be robbed of their portions And whereas you aunswere it is the fruite of so idle a false faith as his lordship preacheth your mastership lyeth For that fayth which he preacheth is both a true and a working faith which if it were as generally receiued in this land as it is truely preached by him and others the ministers of Gods word could lacke no liuings as God be thanked they neither doe nor can lacke sufficient for necessity among so many of high authority nobility and wealth as doe vnfaynedly professe the Gospell and dayly bring forth the fruites of a true liuely working and onely iustifying fayth The Churches of Fraunce in time of greatest persecution yet haue alwayes liberally susteyned their Pastors And as for the great grauntes that Constantine made to Syluester Byshop of Rome of such as he made in deede he made to married Byshops of Rome as some of them were since Syluester time rather then vnto Syluester the coniurer Hildebrand the hell hounde Iulius the warriar or any that succeeded Boniface the third which beside their abominable life were all heretikes and Antichristes And touching such benefites as were receiued at the handes of princes and noble men of our cuntry if they were ment to be bestowed vpon the professors of the truth and such as serue the aulter of
benedicta agni videlicet immaculati qui tollis peccatum mundi potare de fonte pietatis tuae qui per lanceam militis de latere emanauit crucifixi Christi domini nostri vt consolati exultent in laude gloria tua sancta This in English we besech the most holy father for the soules of all faithfull departed that this high and greate sacrament of piety may be vnto them helth and salfty for euer ioye release and perpetuall refreshing O my Lorde God geue them this daye greate and perfect comfort of thee which art the bread that came downe from heauen and geuest life to the worlde Let them take ioye of thy holy and blessed flesh that is to saye of the lambe that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde Geue them to drinke of the springe of thy piety which by the pricke of the souldiers speare did aboundantly ishue out of the side of our Sauiour Christ and Lorde crucified that they being so comforted may reioyse in thy laude and glory euerlastingly To be brieefe all the Christian worlde agreeing as Isiodorus saith vpon one waye for the celebration of diuine mysteries maketh intercession for the faithfull departed that by the blessed sacrifice they maye obteine pardon and remission of their sinnes 7 It is a world to see that you haue nothing in a manner but forged euidence to proue the antiquitie of prayer for the deade in publicke seruice of the Church Who is so ignoraunt in antiquitie but he that will needes be obstinate that knoweth not those preparatories to that masse to be none of S. Ambrose his doings Otherwise it were not harde to proue that by the name of sacrifice he meaneth thankes geuing for the sacrifice of Christ as the maner of that vnpropre speach was to terme the holy sacrament which is but the seale of our saluation and not the matter thereof it selfe To be briefe what so euer Isidorus sayth if all the worlde agreed that intercession and sacrifice should be offered for the deade seeing it disagreeth from the worde of God and the practise of the primitiue Church so long as it followed the rule of Gods worde it is no whit to be regarded 8 For I assure the good reader that all realmes which nowe by Gods grace are in true faith and their Christianitie continuing or else before haue bene and now by schisme doe forsake the same that all those nations as they receiued one faith so in substance they haue euer agreed vniformely in order of seruice which they receiued at their first conuersion from the way of gentilitie by the good prouision of such as wrought vnder God in their happy turne to the Christian faith and religion The same men that brought in the faith of Iesus with all brought in this way of worshipping Christ in the same faith take away then this order of worship and solemne supplication which they planted thou must needes ouerthrowe the faith which they taught also This I say was euer found in the celebration of the fearefull mysterie of Christes body and blood besides the oblation of that holy host for the quicke and dead both namely for certaine and generally for all departed in Christ a solemne prayer and supplicatiō VVhich no doubt Christ instituted at his last supper which the holy Ghost afterward secretly suggested to the Apostles which they againe faithfully deliuered to the nations conuerted by their preaching and to diuerse of their owne disciples by whom the same was deriued downe to our dayes taught in all nations and carefully practised of all people VVhereof we haue worthy witnesses for all countries almost For so the godly doctors Tertullian Cyprian Augustine both taught and worshipped in Africke the same doth Hierom and Damascene in Syria Origen and Athanasius in Egypte Denyse the auncient and Bernarde in Fraunce Chrysostome in Thrase Basill and his brethern in Cappadocia Ambrose and Gregory the greate in Italy Augustine our apostle and Bede in our countrie of England with the rest of all nations baptized whome I named before and might doe yet a number what shoulde I say a numbre all that euer were counted Catholikes since the beginning were of the same sense in that cause And to name the residue where these do not serue it were lost labour For whome they can not moue I can not tell what maye perswade him in any matter Or if he dare not bestow his credit on these mens doinges whome maye he salfely trust If the communion and faithfull fellowship of so many godly and gracious men so vniformely consenting both in the teaching and practising of this matter can not sattell and quiet a mans conscience who can appeace his disquieted vnsteadfast minde and cogitation If in the construing of Gods word and scriptures so many of such graue iudgement of so approued wisedome of so passing learning of such earnest studie in tryall of the trueth of so vertuous a life of so heauenly a gifte and grace in the expounding of Gods worde maye not be salfely followed in this our search whome shoulde we follow or to whome shoulde the simple addicte them selues in so greate a turmoyle of learned men one sorte craking so fast of scripture and the other sorte when the matter commes to triall alleaging so many with so auncient and graue testimony for the true meaning of the same to which I saye is it wisedome to geue consent and credit if not to such as faithfully both followe and recite the scripture with the agreement of the worlde for the true sense thereof S. Augustine writing against Parmenianus the Donatiste much woundereth in that cleere light of trueth and the Churches doctrine the heretikes coulde be blinde or not see the euidence of that which all the worlde but them selues sawe And in many places he reckeneth the most horrible punishment in the worlde to be the cecity and blindenesse which God striketh the stubborne mans hearte with all in forsaking the fellowship of the Churches children But he that considereth the processe of our cause maye a thousand times more maruaill and feare Gods heuy iudgement in the blinding of the disobedient mens heartes and senses for sinne If they them selues were of their consciences examined what els they would wishe for the triall of any doubt I am sure they coulde name no one point nor any meanes in the worlde which our cause woulde not suffer and admitte For by what waye so euer any trueth in Gods Church was seuerally in the auncient times auouched against the aduersary heretike I am sure we haue the same with the aduauntage And for this last point of prayers in the Masses of all nations it is so euident that no man can gaine saye it and so generally practised that the vsage of praying coulde in no matter euer so cleerely set out the certaintie of our belefe as in this 8 If you will take M. Allens assurance in so weighty a matter that vseth so commonly to
Scriptures nor in the most auncient writers that lyued with in an hundreth yeares and more after the time of christ And to the particuler practise of the later times we aunswere that it is not sufficient to controll the auncient doctrine and primer practise If we be required to shew some place of any auncient writer which denyeth purgatory or prayers for the deade we haue already shewed that Augustine some time doth doubt whether there be purgatory some time affirmeth there is no meane or thirde place but heauen for the elect and hell for the reprobate likewise for praying or satisfying for the deade we haue alleaged Cyprian and others your owne common law out of Hieronym sayth that the prayers of the liuing profit not the deade 13. quaest 2. In praesenti saeculo c. In this present worlde we knowe that one of vs may be helped of an other either by prayers or by counsells but when we shoulde come before the iudgement seate of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can intreate for any man but euery man must beare his owne burthen Yea Gelasius the Pope sayth that no man can be absolued of the Pope after his death 24. q. 2. C. legatur Wherefore serue the Popes pardons then To that which is required of the expresse word of God forbidding prayers for the deade we aunswere that all places of scripture that forbidde prayers without fayth forbidde prayer for the deade for faith is not euery mans vaine perswasion but an assurance out of the worde of God which because we can not haue in praying for the dead therefore we are forbidden to praye for them If it be against the hope of Christians to morne for the deade much more it is against the fayth and hope of Christians to praye for them For by our prayer we suppose them to be in misery whome the worde of God doth testifie to be in happines to be at rest to be with Christ Iohn 17. Apoc. 14. And as for a place so expounded by an auncient writer I will seeke no farther then the place of Hieronym euen now alleaged out of your owne canon lawe vppon 2. Cor. 5. referring the reader to many other places alleaged in this aunswere as out of Cyprian Origene and others by which the intollerable lying bragging and rayling of this miscreant shal be better confuted then by any contradiction of wordes And where as he sayeth we chalenge the olde doctors before the simple for our partakers whether they be simple or wise before whom we speake as we speake not alwayes before the simple onely but often times and commonly before as wise and well learned men as M. Allen we neuer make any such challenge of them as the Papistes doe which offer to stand to their iudgement in all thinges and yet in most thinges yea in the cheefest pointes of religion that be so in deede or be so compted of them they are contrary to the doctors and olde councells for which cause and not for confirmation of trueth we alleage the authoritie of men for we haue learned as Augustine sayth to geue this honor only to the canonicall scriptures that we must beleue them with out controuersie and all other writings we receiue so farre as they agree with the scriptures and not other wise wherefore we doe not onely saye that the doctors haue erred like men but we haue proued it so that the Papistes them selues can not saye naye for shame But to that he sayth we doe boldely condemne the holy Scriptures that it out of all measure impudent and sclaunderous And that which he citeth out of Irenaeus belike as he had it of some foolish priest that fedde him with notes of doctors or as he is impudent enough to peruerte the fathers meaning him selfe so if he had alleged the whole sentence he might well haue taken him selfe and the rest of his fellowes by the noses for heretikes by the iudgemeÌ„t of Irenaeus whose wordes be these Cum enim ex scripturis arguantur in accusationem conuertuntur ipsarum scripturarum quasi non rectè habâ—ant neque sit ex authoritate quia variè sunt dictae quia non possit inueniri veritas ab his qui nesciant traditionem non enim per literas traditam illam sed per viuam vocem When they be confuted by the scriptures they are turned into the accusation of the scriptures them selues as though they were not well nor of sufficient authority both because the trueth can not be founde of them which knowe not the tradition for that was not deliuered by writing but by worde of mouth How saye you M Allen who is an heretike by Irenaeus iudgement who accuseth the scriptures as though they were not of sufficient authority who sayth the scriptures are like a nose of waxe who saye the trueth can not be founde in scriptures without tradition of vnwritten verities In good sooth M. Allen you haue the worst grace of any that euer I knew in alleaging the sentences of the doctors for you alleage fewe or none but either in whole or in parte they make against you 9 But if you thinke that I feane of them you shall see what shamefull shiftes the maisters and captaines of the contrary assertion haue deuised for the defense of them selues I dare say if the studious be but any whit indiffereÌ„t he will leaue their sâ—hoole for euer The chiefe Captaine of all these contentious heades like an vnshamefast childe affiâ—meth that the doctors praysed and followed the common errors of the ignorant people in almes and prayers for the departed Brentius aunswereth that Tertullian making mention of yearly oblations for the deceased tooke his error of the hethen vsage of the gentility And Augustine he saith affirmed purgatory prayers and almes for them for the affiance that he had in mens merites towardes the remission of sinnes Melancthon as though he were no man that might orre him selfe sayth the doctors were men and discented amongest them selues As for the vsage of any celebration in the worlde what roume can it haue with these champians when Câ—luin confesseth in plaine termes that the celebration of the Sacrament hath bene contaminated euen in a maner sith the Apostles time and first planting of our religion and to reduce it to the puritie againe the man frames a newe one of his owne so farre from superstition that it hath no steppe of religion or true worship of god But well the worde of God is yet safe with them there a man may holde them No surely they are as â—alsie with the very scripture it selfe when so euer it maketh against them Brentius before named is not ashamed to saye that he pardoneth the author of the Machabeis of his error and ignorance And that thou may see the perfect image of a prowde heretike Caluin sayth thus as for the booke of the Machabeis I will not vouâ—hsalfe to make aunswere to it Mercifull God what faithfull
them your selues by the worde of God if you can And because you bring in a witty example of the common wealth I will aunswere you with the like Must the Magistrate either iustifie a theefes possession or else bring out the author where he had it Nay the theefe must bring out good proofe howe and by whom he came by such goods or else he is worthy to be serued like such a one So shall you not compell vs to tell you where when or how your heresie came in seeing it is sufficient for vs to shew that it came not from God nor by the Apostles nor through their doctrine But you doe well to conclude your reason in a syllogisme for then by the weakenes therof doth appeare your maior and minor be both false or at the least wise vnable to be proued of you For euery falshod hath not bene preached against at the first entry And how are you able to proue that purgatory and praying for the deade hath not bene preached against therfore your conclusion is as true and as certeyne as your premisses 3 But what needes all this a doe by their owne consent we shall driue this doctrine thirtene C. yeares vpward For so neare was Tertullian the Apostles dayes whome they confesse to haue practised that pointe of oblations for the deade And aske him where he had it for surely he inuented it not him selfe and he appointeth vs to his forefathers he nameth the Apostles for the authors and founders thereof as of many other thinges which he there reckeneth beside that were generally receiued and nowe be of heretikes likewise contemned VVe might yet steppe two C. yeare forward and find amongest the Apostles owne hearers the same doctrine both allowed and practised but that they will make exception of Dionysius and Clements workes such shiftes men must finde that will defend falshood Other I will name that be out of their exceptions VVho I thinke as well for their time knowledge and credit as their excellent vertue both can and will better tell the origine of that thinge the authors whereof were more nigh their time then ours If they woulde beleue S. Augustine as they often professe they will the matter might soone be ended but because I feare they stand so much in the corrupt conceite of their owne singularitie that they will be bold to reiect him I shall both lay him to their charges diuers other of greater antiquity that shal in expresse words affirme this vsage to come from the Apostles owne schoole That thereby they may either acknowledge their errors or else by such graue and vncorrupt iudges be condemned of willfull malitious blindnesse Thus S. Augustine writeth By the prayers of the holy Church the profitable sacrifice and almes bestowed for the soules departed out of all doubt the deceased be releued so that thereby almighty God may deale more mercifully with them thē their sinnes required For this practise deliuered vnto vs by our fathers is obserued vniuersally in Christes Church that for such as be departed in the communion of Christes body and bloud when at the sacrifice they be orderly named praiers shoulde be made and the same sacrifice mentioned to be done for them Here by his words thou vnderstands that the profit rising by the prayers or sacrifice to the departed hath no doubt in it They were through the world vsed not in the Church which they say hath bene for nyne C. yeares corrupted by supersticious ignorāce but in that Church which our aduersaires doe confesse maugre their heades to haue bene holy Catholike and Apostolike And it was not then begon but receiued by the prouision of Gods holy spirite of the Apostles whome he calleth the fathers of our faith 3 It is not denied but Tertuillan maketh mention of oblations for the dead but what kind of oblations it is not yet agreed vppon but such they were as were offered for mens birthes for they be ioyned togither Oblationes pro defunctis pro natalitijs annua die facimus we make oblations yearely for the day of mens death and the day of mens birth Now it is not like they offered prayers but thākes giuing for mens birth and euen so for their death For those places out of the other bookes where he speaketh of prayers for mens spirites I will consider afterward But in this booke de corona militis if oblations were prayers which he saith came from the Apostles he vtterly denyeth that they came from the Scriptures Therefore by Tertullians iudgement you doe abuse the Scriptures which woulde wrest them to proue out of them that which he sayth can not be proued by them But think you prayers for the dead came from the Apostles because he sayth so If you aunswere yea then must you likewise thinke that it is a wicked thing to fast on Sonday or to pray on your knees for in the same place he sayth that these opinions came also from the Apostles If you aunswere he sayth vntruely of these so doe we answere of the other Now come backe of your 13. hundreth yeares to seeke your apostolike tradition where you can finde it All is not Gospell that Tertullian hath sayd As for the works of Clemens and Dionysius you know full well they be not currant and therefore I maruell at your modestie that you will not now oppresse vs with them But it is because you haue store enough beside Howbeit if the most auncient fayle you it is not for the later sorte to helpe you If Tertullian had no ground of his saying when he affirmed that oblations for the deade came from the Apostles what ground can Augustine haue which was 200. yeares farther from the Apostles time then he But where you charge vs to confesse that the Church in Augustines time was holy Catholike and Apostolike you must witte if you will that although we may so confesse in respect of the substance of true doctrine which then was taught yet we doe not therby iustifie euery error superstition of that age But as Augustine sayth in his retractations lib. 2. cap. 18. he doth not meane that the Church is pure and perfect in this life with out all spot of blemish for euen the whole Church by reason of certeine ignorance and infirmities of her members hath neede to say euery day Forgiue vs our debtes 4 Athanasius me thinke the aduersary part should quake when I name him who was in his dayes terrible to the wicked odible to heretikes to all vertuous mē an especiall stay in the troblesome times of the Church whose grace was so great that he abbrigeth our whole faith into a briefe psalme called the Creede of Athanasius which is beleued of all Christian men no lesse then the holy Scriptures of the new Testament VVho as he right well knewe howe to defend him selfe against the wicked Arrians by the doctrine of the Catholike Church so he hath left vs in writing howe to
arme our selues against the like aduersaires of trueth with his minde in such other points of weight as in his dayes were not doubted of which yet might fall in question by the contentious wittes of many that can not quiet them selues in the holsome doctrine of Christes Church Amongest other things what this holy mans minde was concerning the vtility vsage of prayers and sacrifice for the deade and who were the institutors thereof thou shall now heare I will recite but a parte of his heauenly talke though the whole make wholy for our purpose Although sayth this holy doctour he that Christianly is hense in faith departed be hanged in the ayer and his body vnburied yet after thy prayers made to God sticke not to light lampe and taper at his sepulchre for these thinges be not onely acceptable to God but are rewarded For the oyle and waxe be to him as an holocaust or a sacrifice to be consumed by fire but that vnbloudy hoste is a propitiation and remission to the partie It may seeme by his wordes that when by occasion of punishment or otherwise any person was vnburied yet there was made some hearse or monumēt where his freinds lighted tapers as they doe at this daye and procured the holy Masse which Athanasius calleth the Vnbloudy hoste or sacrifice to be celebrated in his behalfe for so I take that when he sayth that a man being hong in the ayer may haue tapers and Masse at his sepulchre though some seeke an other meaninge which may well stande too and it skilleth not for our purpose for so much is plaine that in Athanasius his dayes the sacrifice was called and counted propitiatory euen for the deade But nowe a litle afterwarde in the same oration he instruteth vs for the first authors and institutors of this vsage in the vnbloudy sacrifice and in the burialls of Christian men All these holy thinges sayth he the Apostles of Christ those heauenly preachers and scholars of our Lorde the first orderers of our sacrifice charged to be obserued in the memories and anniuersaires of the departed c. he calleth the Apostles Curatores Sacrificiorum as you woulde saye men appointed to take ordre for all thinges perteyning to the solemne ministerie of the greate and high misterie As in the Psalme the spirituall gouernours are named Ordinatores testamenti Dei super sacrificia The prouisours of Gods testament touching the sacrifices The residue of his holy wordes thou may finde in Damascens oration of the departed where he recyteth both the Gregories of the Greeke church S. Denyse and S. Chrysostom too which writers doe rather serue my turne nowe then the Latines because they may put vs out of doubt for the vsage of the Greeke and other Churches which afterwarde by schisme fell together from the true worshippe of God into diuers errors That we may knowe those same countries vnder the gouernment of these excellent blessed men to haue obserued the same things which to their owne eternall miserie and decaye of their Church and countries they afterwarde contemned For their dissension and diuision both in this point others of no lesse importaunce hath procured Gods vengeaunce so much that nowe they haue almost no Church at all as we may haue right good cause to feare what will become of vs that followe their steppes in such pointes as in them haue duely deserued Gods greuous plaques 4 When you name Athanasius and thinke we shoulde be so sore afrayd of his name you haue good reason for you allege nothing else of him but his name I haue often tolde you Damascens report eyther for his corrupt iudgement or his cracked credit is nothing regarded of vs And euen the authoritie of Athanasius without the worde of God is the authoritie of god And as Augustine sayth of Cyprian we count not all his writing for canonicall Scriptures but we iudge them by the canonicall Scriptures The creede commonly called Athanasius creede although it be very godly and agreeable to the holy Scriptures yet by the iudgement of the best learned was complyed by some later writer then Athanasius As for the plague of the Greeke Church which M. Allen iudgeth to haue fallen vpon them for their departing from the Church of Rome he iudgeth both falsely and vnreasonably For what schisme was the Church of Africa first plaged by the Vandales that were Arians and afterward vtterly subuerted by the Saracens I doubt not but iustly for their sinnes but not for leauing the Romish Church 5 Amongest other for that Chrysostoms authority is exceding graue I will let you see his opinion for the institution of these beneficiall relieuinges of the departeds paine These be his wordes Let vs sieke out all meanes whereby we may best helpe our brethern departed let vs for their sakes bestowe the most present remedie that is to saye almes and oblation for thereby to them ensueth great commoditie gaine and profit for it was not rashly nor without greate cause prouided and to Gods Church by his disciples full of wisedome deliuered and decried that in the dreadfull misteries there shoulde be especiall prayers made by the priest for all those that sleepe in faith For it is a singular benefit to them These were Chrysostoms wordes whereby not onely the trueth of the cause and first authors of the practise be opened but that there is wounderfull benefite to the parties for whome prayers be so made in the holy sacrifice The which thing our forefathers well knewe when they were so earnest after their departure to haue a memory at the holy altar Now adayes heresie hath cankered euen the very deuotion of Catholikes who although they thinke it to be true that Gods Church teacheth herein yet the zele of procuring these meanes is nothing so great as the importaunce of the cause requireth But if they note well those carefull admonitions of all these blessed fathers they shall perceiue that euery time that Christes holy bloude is represented vnto God in the Masse for the departed they feele a present benefite and release of their paines they doe reioyse sayth holy Athanasius when the vnbloudy hoste is offered for them The old fathers to put a difference betwixt the sacrificing of Christes owne body vpon the crosse and the same vpon the altar in the Church doe lightly terme this way of offering the vnbloudy sacrifice and the thinge offered which is Christes owne blessed body they call likewise the host vnbloudy And Chrysostome neuer putting any doubt of the first authors of offering for the deade proueth that it is exceding beneficiall to the deceased because the Apostles full of Gods spirite and wisedome woulde else neuer with such care haue commaunded this holy action to be done for them A lasse a lasse fo◠our deare freindes departed that they must lacke this comforte But wo euerlasting to them that are the cause of so much miserie 5 Chrysostome can no more proue that
of Christes institution the Apostles tradition the vniuersall practise of the primitiue Church And what so euer great wordes beside you haue streyned your lunges to pronounce you haue sayd nothing for oblation or prayer for the deade to be the institution of Christ and all this geere but I may say the same for the drinking of milke and hony after baptisme for not fasting on Sonday ▪ or prayer on knees c by like vniuersalitie antiquitie consent authoritie 8 If the authors be past hope yet their followers shall take goodly occasion to forsake such wicked maisters and be ashamed of all their vndecent dealyng if they note and consider with me that the first preachers of this peruerse opinion were such that none of all their scholars durst euer for shame for the proofe of their assertion name their owne doctors And truely a man might well maruel why heretikes hauing some that did plainely professe their opinions had yet rather picke out some darke sentence of any one of our holy fathers whome they knowe to be directly against them then out of those same doctors of their owne which in expresse wordes make for them You shall not lightly heare an heretike that denieth praying to sainctes or holdeth with open breache of holy vowes alleage Iouinianus or Vigilantius Nor a Sacramentarie seeke for the authoritye of Berengarius or Wicleffe though they be of some antiquitie and without colour plainely doe mainteine the doctrine that so well lyketh them But they will trauell to writh with plaine iniurie to the author some sentence out of Augustine or Ambrose or some other that by their whole life and practise open them selues to the worlde to beleue the contrary and all this by some shewe of wordes for the bearing of their false assertions Marke it well I saye in heretikes that they can not for shame of them selues euer name any of the plaine auouchers of their owne opinions The cause is that the only vpholding of their opinions made them infamous to the whole posterity And if any honour grewe vnto them amongest the simple because they lacked not the wayes to procure the peoples consent with admiration of their eloquence or other plausible and populare qualities in their dayes yet trueth following time their same raised vpon so light causes easely decayd and the grounde of perpetuall infamie sattled in wise mens heartes by the wickednesse of their attemptes remained for a testimony to all posteritie of their shame and ignominie And this I speake not onely of the authors of our common sectes for they neuer atteined to any shade of famous report in their dayes because they coulde deceiue none but simple wemen but I meane by Arius him selfe and Pelagius with the like who in their owne time being of great esteeme amongest many whome they deceiued yet after their death more more they grew to shame and infamie so farre that who so euer were of their opinions afterward durste not yet for shame vse their name or authority for proofe of their owne doctrine See you not in our dayes howe freshe the name of Luther Caluin Bucer with that rable was amongest the rude people whome they had wonne either with speach or pleasure of licentious doctrine and loe nowe it decayeth in a maner or their bones be coulde The peoples sensies raueshed with the present pleasure of such as they hearde last like them so longe as they heare them afterwarde their memory remaineth onely to malediction Vidi impium superexaltatum eleuatum sicut Cedros Libani transiui ecce non est quaesiui non est inuentus locus eius I haue seene the wicked exalted and set vp as the Cedre trees of Libanus I passed by and loe out of hande he is no body I sought him and his abiding can not be founde VVho so euer shall seeke for our glorious preachers with in this C. yeare he shall finde them in such estimation then as their forefathers be nowe that is to say to be vnworthy the naming of their owne adherents if any of that secte liue and last so longe For let them neuer looke to come to the infamous fame of Arrius the best of all these secte maisters not worthy to be scholar to a hundreth of his followers Thus loe is the case of heretikes liked of fooles when they be alieue contemned of all men when they are deade 8 M. Allen marueileth and giueth a speciall note that we name not Iouinian Vigilantius Berengarius or VVickleffe to be the authors of our doctrine but rather hang vppon some sentence of Augustine or Ambrose and thinketh we are ashamed of the other In deede if we depended vpon any mens authoritie or that any man or men were the authors of our faith as it fareth with the popish faith we should be iniurious vnto them if we did not acknowledge our foūders as they doe some of theirs But seeing God him selfe is the father of that doctrine which we haue receiued by his holy word we neither boast vpon Augustine nor Ambrose when they dissent therefro neither are ashamed of Vigilantius nor Beringarius when they agree therewith We refuse not the truth that Tertullian Origin haue taught because they taught heresies also neither do we receiue the errors of Cypriā Augustin because they taught many points of true faith Onely the canonicall Scriptures are the rule by which we iudge of all men and their writings of all doctrine and the teachers therof It is a ridiculous thing that M. Allen like a cold Prophet taketh vpon him to tell what shall be thought of our preachers names within these hundred yeares But what so euer he prateth the memory of the righteous shall remayne for euer neither shall they be afrayde of any euill reporte their names are written in the booke of life which are ordeyned vnto eternall glory howso euer they be accounted of by the wicked of this worlde And yet there is no cause why we should not thinke that the names and writings of Luther Caluine and Bucer shal remayne in good account with Gods Church euen vntil they them selues shall come with Christ to iudge the worlde when in the meane time Eccius Pighius Cocleus and such other shall not be remembred but as obstinate withstanders of the truth and enemies of the Gospell 9 Now in the doctors of Gods Church it is cleane contrarie and no lesse worthy to be noted for our purpose for their honour and estimation rising vpon the sure vnfallible grounde of Gods trueth by yeares and time gathereth such force that not onely their memorie is in perpetuall benediction before God but their workes follow them in the mindes of their posteritie to their owne eternall praise and benefite of all their followers And which is much more to be woundered at they haue so passed enuy and malice of man that euen those which deadly hate them dare not but praise them And such as mislike their doctrine
so notorious false that it grew to no greate heade at that time or else it was not so much regarded because it was ioyned to that horrible falshood of Arius against the blessed Godhood of Christ Iesus our Sauiour Euery greate wast of religion hath many false opinions knit together amongest which one being as principall ground shadoweth the other lesser branchies as nowe the blasphemy of the holy Sacrificie and Sacrament being the fountaine of their heresies in a maner couereth the meaner puddells of their stinking doctrine And amoÌ„gest other this vnnaturall affection of forbidding the reliefe of the parted seemeth euer to be ioyned as an appendix to other falsehoods For in holy Damascens dayes this secte appeared againe with other false doctrine as a companion of all mischiefe And to proue it to be an heresie he seeketh out the first founder thereof and findeth euen as before that vnder the deuill this Aërius was the father of that faythlesse assertion VVhome he bayteth well fauourdly in a whole oration and so driues the woolfe in to the woodde againe 4 Now at the length commeth the author of this heresie by the testimony of Epiphanius and Augustine But neither of them confuteth it by the Scriptures but by the coÌ„mon error of their tyme I could proue out of Irenaeus and Epiphanius that the first that brought in estimation the figure of the crosse images were the Valentinians Carpocratianes But that is no aunswere to this matter I haue promised to proue that the opinion of purgatory had the same original that the most notable heresies had Tertullian though him selfe an heretike yet truely describeth the originall of heresies in his booke de praescriptionibus aduersus haereses That as true doctrine was receiued from Christ by the Apostles â—o heresie from the deuill by Philosophers and Gentyles Also in his booke de anima he sheweth that all Philosophers which graunted the immortality of the soule as Pythagoras Empedocles and Plato assigned 3. places for the soules departed heauen hell and a third place of purifying Carpocrates as Irenaeus doth testifie was a great admirer of Philosophie in so much that with the imagies which he made of Christ he ioyned the imagies of Pythagoras Plato and Aristotle This heretike learning out of Plato his philosophy that mens soules must be purified after their death inuented a kinde of purgatory out of the opinion of Pythagoras and proued it out of that place of S. Matthew Thou shalt not come forth vntill thou hast payed the vttermost farthing euen as the Papists do Iren. lib. 1. ca. 24. The Heracleonites as Augustine witnesseth came yet a step more towardes the Papistes for they would redeeme their deade after a new maner namely by oyle balme water and inuocation sayd ouer their heades in the Hebrew tongue But Montanus of whom Tertullian receiued his heresie had in all pointes the opinion of the Papistes First that the Patriarkes before Christes comming were in hell that Abrahams bosome was in hell or in the lower parts as M. Allen had rather speake that onely Martyrs and perfect men are priuiledged of God to goe into Paradise that all small offences must be punished after this life where the prison is the vttermost farthing to be payed witnes of this is Tertullian in his booke de anima ca. de inferis c. vlt. an aliquid patiaÌ„tur animae apud inferos c. His words are these after he hath proued that soules may suffer after their death In summa cum carcerem illuÌ„ quod EuangeliuÌ„ demoÌ„strat inferos intelligimus nouissimuÌ„ quadraÌ„tem modicum quodque delictum mora resurrectionis illic luenduÌ„ interpretamur nemo dubitabit animaÌ„ aliquid peÌ„sare penes inferos salua resurrectionis plenitudine per carneÌ„ quoque Hoc etiaÌ„ Paracletus frequeÌ„tissimè coÌ„meÌ„dauit si quis sermones eius ex agnitione promissoruÌ„ charismatuÌ„ admiserit To conclude when we do vnderstand that prison which thing the Gospell sheweth to be hell or the lower partes and do expound that the vttermost farthing which is euery small fault must there be punished with delay of resurrection no man shall doubt but that the soule in hell doth suffer somthing sauing the fulnes of the resurrection by the flesh also And this the comforter hath often times commended if any man will admitte his sayings by acknowledging of the promised gratious giftes By the comforter he meaneth the spirite of Montanus whose heresie he defended And therefore it is not otherwise to be thought but that the Montanistes vpon the ground of this opinion not content with the oblations for the deade which the Church then had by peruerse emulation of the Gentiles and yet were but oblations of thankes giuing as they could be no other for the birth dayes they added also prayers for the spirites of them that were deade whereof Tertullian maketh mention in his bookes de castitate de Monogamia which were both written to heretikes of his sect and by those prayers laboreth to proue that second mariages are not lawfull Also in his booke de anima before named though for an other purpose he rehearseth a miracle of a woman whom he knew of his sect for none other he couÌ„ted of the Church which after she was deade and prepared to buriall by prayer of the Priestes at the first beginning of his prayer she tooke vp her handes from her sides and held them vp as they that vse to pray and when the office of buriall was ended layd them downe agayne This miracle I take to haue bene an illusion of Sathan to confirme that new opinion that prayers profited the deade as that also which he reporteth of heare say of some of his sect that when two bodies should be buried in one graue the one lay further and made roome for the other which was no doubt a sleight of Satan to commend the vnitie of heretikes And that the practise of the Church for oblations for the deade at the yearly day of their birth were taken from the Gentiles it appeareth by this that Tertullian counteth them of all one origen with the oblations pro natalitijs that is for the birth dayes which Beatus Rhenanus a Papist and a great antiquary doth confesse affirming that by the canons of the Nicene councell and other councels which he hath seene in libraries those oblations pro natalitijs with other superstitions that Tertullian fathereth vpon tradition of the Apostles were abrogated And the oblations them selues which were at burialls mariages birth dayes he affirmeth were mony that was offered in almes to the reliefe of the poore Origen to much a Philosopher was not content with Plato his purification but he must bring in Platoes fire also and that he would build as the papistes doe and as he had better reason then the Papistes haue out of the 1. Cor. 3. but because the Apostle sayd that euery mans worke should be tryed by fire he
thought that all men should passe through his purgatory at length be saued Afterward when prayers for the deade were growne out of memoryes for the deade which were without prayers in Origens tyme as appeareth in his wordes in Iob. lib. 3. but kept with almes to the poore and reioysing for their rest about S. Augustines time the name of purgatory was first inuented by some mediatores and conciliatores of Origens error with the erroneous practise of the church And this was a great corruption of those auncient tymes that they did not alwaies weigh what was most agreeable to the word of God but if the Gentiles or heretikes had any thing that semed to haue a shew of pietie or charitie they would draw it into vse with such correction as they thought was sufficient So they tooke the signe of the crosse from the Valentinians oblations for the dayes of death and birth of the Gentiles prescript tymes of fasting and vnmeasurable extolling of sole life in the ministers of the Church from the Maniches Tacianistes and Montanistes prayer for the deade of the Montanistes purgatory fire of the Originestes yea Ieronym was almost fallen into the heresie of Tertullian in condemning second mariages yea euē the name of sacrifice which was commonly vsed for the celebration of the Lordes supper they tooke vp of the Gentiles Finally it appeareth that the faithfull in Tertullians tyme which were not of his sect beleued not that the soules of Christians departed came into his hell or lower partes where he maketh so many mansions but that they were placed in heauen where Christ is against whom he reasoneth after his brawling and taunting maner that he vseth against the Catholikes libro de anima cap. de inferis And they that so beleue allow no prayers for the deade Wherefore it is left that Montanus and his followers were the first that taught prayers for the deade to be profitable because that the soules of the faithfull that were not made perfect by martyrdom or other streight penance must pay the vttermost farthing in prison and suffer the least offences in the lower partes if they were not holpen with prayers Therfore Aerius was not the first that helde our opinion but Montanus before him was the first that held your opinion throughly against the Catholikes of his tyme Wherfore you are welcome home for heretikes by your owne rule 5 Then for many a day together this doctrine was dashte till the time of holy S. Bernard and Petrus the reuerent Abbate of Cluny by which two notable housekeping dogges that were neuer dumme in the Churches neede this woolfe appearing once againe was both noted and oppenly vanquished And in their dayes this falsehood that before was a compagnion of the Arrians marke well the course of thinges good reader was nowe matched with the Anabaptistes who in that time as the saide writers doe recorde did call them selues Apostolici that is to say Apostolicke or followers of the Apostles so they woulde be termed to delude the ignorant by the bewty of that glorious name as now their ofspring call them selues Euangelici that is to say gospellers and the pure preachers of the word and gospell S. Bernard touched them to the quicke in a sermon by these wordes Loe sayeth he these miscreants loe these dogges they laugh vs to skorne that we baptise infants that we pray for the deade that we require the helpe of holy Sainctes they exclude Christes grace in all sortes and euery kinde in olde and younge in the liue and in the deade Looke you nowe with their Gospell like name they were counted no better then prophane dogges of this holy father that laught so skornefully at Christes Church for praying for the deade and inuocation of Sainctes and shall we make such Iewels of their scholars now a dayes In all ages since this wielde seede was first sowne the true preachers the workemen of Gods haruest haue euer plucked it vp as it first appeared The which wede was better knowene from the corne because it euer grewe amongest the bundels of briers and brembles was of that waisting nature that it could not be tolerated without the vtter choking of the wheate 5 Barnard was but a late writer to speake of and whether those that were called in his tyme Apostolici were sclaundered for denying of baptisme to infantes when perhaps they denyed onely some of your popish ceremonies which you vse about baptisme I am not able to say certein it is that the godly called pauperes de Lugduno VValdenses which were about that tyme were sclaundered with many detestable opinions which it is nowe well knowne that they neuer did holde But howe so euer it were that which they affirmed of trueth must not be condemned because of that where in they erred the Arrians were the first that added vnto the Symbole the article of descending into Hell shall we thinke worse of that article which is true because of there heresie which is false 6 This doctrine I saye being of it selfe very pernicious yet it is euer in company of other mischiefe For the principall author of this secte was an Arian then the followers as Bernard witnesseth were Anabaptistes or worse To whome all men much maruell that God should rather reueale such misteries of trueth then to other that were sownde in faith And in deede I woulde gladly meete with some one good fellowe or other of that secte that were learned with al that he might resolue me in this doubt why this conclusion of not offering or praying for the deade of not keping the ordinarie fastes of contemning the Sainctes helpe in heauen and the residue of your new Creede why God seeing all light of trueth commeth of his grace openeth these misteries alwayes and onely to such as you your selues can not deny to be heretikes VVhy did he reueale in the primitiue Church that doctrine to an Arian being an open enemie of his holy name and not to Athanasius or Epiphanius or some other blessed men of that time I stande the longer vpon this point that the worlde and who so euer is the simplest maye beholde your miserie and shame for I knowe you can say nothing in this case for your defense but euen beare with blacke blotted consciencies the infamy of willfull blindnesse Howe saye you did not your doctrine afterwarde appeare againe amongest wicked Anabaptistes that deny amongest other things the baptising of infants it was neither reueled to Bede nor Bernard I warrant you But come lower yet to our owne time you knowe full well we haue store of Anabaptistes of Arians of Saduceis of Epicures and of all other sectes that the deuill euer deuised such light of trueth hath our happy age by your preaching tell me trueth nowe be not all these whome you counte heretikes as well as we doe be they not all I saye of your opinion in this matter and not one of them of our 6 I
may by the example of Christ aunswere one question with an other why was it first reueiled to the Arians in councell holden against Christ that the article of his descent into hell was meete to be added to the creede and confession of faith which was not reueiled to so many godly meÌ„ as set forth the Symbole nor to the holy Nicene Councell Aunswere me if you can or any Robin good fellowe of your sect â–ª learned or vnlearned is it any preiudice to the trueth of that article or to the right that it hath to be placed in the creede that it was first added by the Arrians why was the trueth reueiled to heretikes concerning rebaptisation rather then to Cyprian and so many catholicke byshoppes why was it reueiled to the Pelagians that infantes might be saued without the participation of the sacrament of Christes body and bloude rather then vnto S. Augustine Innocentius byshoppe of Rome and as Augustine sayeth all the catholicke fathers of that time which thought it was as necessary for them to receiue the communion as to be baptised If heretikes shoulde not affirme somethinge that were true they shoulde neuer deceiue any man And sometime Satan affirmeth the trueth not because he will haue it beleeued but rather that proceding out of his lying mouth it might the sooner be discredited And therefore sometymes Arrians Pelagians Anabaptistes and such like by the subtilty of Satan haue affirmed somethinge that is true either to winne credit to their manifolde lyes or else to drowen the credit of that trueth among so many errors 7 Nay I will pose you further is not your preaching the very ready waye to all such extreeme blasphemies as they boldely mainteine did euer man fall from the Catholicke Church to those further heresies then you yet openly professe but he tooke yours by the waye as a plaine passage to extreme infidelitie yea your opinions doe so well stande with the other that they neede not afterwarde to refuse any one pointe of all your doctrine to mainteine their owne There is no article of Catholicke doctrine but it is as much hated of them as of your selues Helpe your selues here my maisters or else all the worlde will take you to be in your heartes of the same sectes wherevnto your faith is alwayes so dearely ioyned Put your heades together and tell vs whie your doctrine is so deare to the AriaÌ„s all wicked men so hated of the holy fathers of Christes Church If you frame not your aunswere well you liese your credites your scholars and your honesties VVell thus haue I pointed out your author his name was Aërius you must be called Aërians you maye kepe the name of Protestaunts or Euangelistes beside For a holy newe calling is lightly ioyned to such men VVhereby though some simple be deceyued yet wâ—se men be warned Or if the olde authors of this secte be not so glorious as these new reuiuers if they list and like so they may call them selues Lutherans or Caluinistes or what they will but Catholickes Although Martyn Luther graunted purgatory and prayers with this error that such as were there might yet by their diuers deseruinges winne or loose life euerlasting as men of doubtefull state as they were before in the worlde plaine against our Sauiours admonition and carefull warning veniet nox quando iam nullus operari potest VVorke whiele the day lasteth for the night shall come wheÌ„ no man can labour But I neede not to stande vpon this point which of neither parte is much regarded Neither will I spende any more time in getting them an author of their secte seeing they haue choise of diuers Let them goe out of the Citye of God from amongest the holy company and turne on the lifte hande and looke amongest the outcastes of all agies and they shall haue freindes and fellowes enowe 7 That you saye of our preaching to be the waye to so many heresies might haue bene sayed of the Gentiles and Iewes to the whole Church of Christians The Gentiles continued constant so did the Iewes without schisme in their errors when the professors of Christianity were rent and torne into an hundreth sectes and heresies There were no heretikes but they hated Iewes and Gentiles as much as the true Christians was therefore the religion of the Iewes and Gentiles better then the religion of the Christians Yea there neuer was since Christ any heresie or heretike but they agreed in many more thinges with the Christians then with the Gentiles and Iewes was therefore the Christian religion false or the Paganes and Iewes superstition true It is therefore no dâ—sâ—redit of our doctrine that Arrians or Anabaptistes of our time either haue any thing of yours or prayse any thing of ours Neither our credit schollers nor honestie are in daunger for their errors which they learned not of vs neither are your wit learning or heresie the greater for vttering this foolish conceipte which no more toucheth vs or defendeth you then it carpeth the religion of Christ and mainteineth the Idolatrie of the heathen The worlde seeth what vaine reasons you leane vnto being destitute of the worde of god An heretike helde this opinion therefore it is false The deuill beleueth there is one God therefore shall not Christian men beleue so why woulde God reueile any trueth to heretikes why did the Pharizees which otherwise were heretikes defende the resurrection of the deade This vaine frothe of wordes and smoke of foolish and vnlearned questions will euen fall downe and vanish awaye of it selfe though it be not blowen away by vs The latter end of this chapter hath one croppe of his olde custome to charge Luther with defending of Purgatory which either was while he remained in ignorance or else it is but a fained fable as many other of him and others are deuised by the Papists who as they erre from the trueth of God so they delight in sclaundering of good men but they shall not preuaile their madnes is made knowen to all men That their falsehood is condemned and the Catholicke trueth approued by the authority of holy Councells Their pride in contemning and the Catholickes humilitie in obedient receyuing the same And a sleight vvhereby the heretikes deceiue the people is detected CAP. XV. 1 ANd for our parte it is sufficient good reader that we knowe the first founder thereof and that we be nowe right well assured that he in his time and his scholars in theirs haue bene noted called and condemned for heretikes in this as in other fonde peruerse opinions beside not onely by the singular iudgements of diuers learned men but by the common sense and consent of the worlde and by auncient Councells both generall and particular as we maye reade in the Councells of Carthage the iiij of Bracharense and Vase the Decrees of which by occasion we rehearsed once before They are both auncient and of greate authority and honored with the presence of
know that he despiseth being but a mortall fraile man the grauest iudgement that God hath left in earth for the determination of any matter Let him be ashamed that he being but one man taketh vpon him to controule diuers hundreths of the most chosen for vertue for learning for experience in the whole Church of God yea let him if he haue any affection of grace tremble and feare to deface the dealing of that honorable and vniuersall parlament that representeth vnto vs Gods holy whole Church hauing the assured promise of the holy Ghostes assistance for their guiding in all truth Yet I see before hand the aduersaries will not admitte the iudgemâ—â—t of these or any other Councells neither in such men doe I much maruell to finde so litle humility and so much impudency For all heretikes condemned by councells did euer condeÌ„ne as they could the same councells againe So were the first 4. councells which all Christian men with S. Gregory accept as the holy Gospells of God vtterly refused by the parties in them condemned The Arians by great force of worldly Princes and many assembles deuilishly withstoode the Councell of Nice the Macedonians reiected the councell of Constantinople the first the Nestorians nothing estemed the councell of Ephese Eutiches and Dioscorus litle regarded the councell of Chalcedon in which they their followers were condemned of heresie for sundry pointes which now were ouerlong and not for our purpose to rehearse Then by refusing the heauenly sentence of the Churches iudgement they win nothing else but the assured marke of an heretike They declare them selues that as they be in heresie as deepe as the best so they in pride and boldnes be not behind the worst But all Catholikes faithful beleuers as soone as they know the determination of such a number of so well learned fathers gathered in the vnitie of Gods Church and spirite streight way they receiue it and submit them selues as to the iudgement and reuelation of the holy Ghost For so the Christian brethren that were molested by the contentious clamors of certeyne troublesom heades at Antioch being once certified by the letters of that first Christian councel what was decreed and enacted concerning the matters called in question they then regarded no more what the aduersaries thought therein but out of hand Gauisi sunt super consolatione they reioysed in that comfort of their agreement And Ruffinus writeth that when Constantinus the great vnderstoode the determination of the doubtes proposed in the great councell of Nice he receiued it as the oracle of God Defertur ad Constantinum sacerdotalis concilij sententia ille tanquam a Deo prolatam veneratur the decree sayth he of the priestes was shewed to Constantine and he straight with all reuerence accepted it as Gods owne sentence And if our aduersaries coulde learne a litle humilitie they might quickely be dispatched of a great deale of heresie The which as it first beganne with the conceite of singularitie and contempt of other so it procedeth with maliperte boldnesse and endeth in plaine disobedience of the Church of the Councells of the scriptures and Gods owne spirite VVhome without moe wordes I woulde nowe geue ouer vnto God hauing as I trust already geuen them sufficient occasion by the euident proofe of my matter to remembre their misery and heuy condition but that I must remoue out of the simples waye such stoombling stockes as perhaps might somewhat trouble the vnlearned who for lacke of deepe iudgement be moste subiecte to the aduersaries deceites 2 It is true humilitie that all men should submit them selues to the authoritie of Gods worde and it is horrible presumption that any man or multitude of men shoulde take vppon them authoritie to define against the worde of god As the councell of Constance which decreeth in plaine wordes that notwithstanding Christ instituted the sacrament to be receiued in both kindes and that the faithfull in the primatiue Church did so receiue it yet the custome of the church of Rome shall preuaile and whosoeuer sayeth contrary is an heretike c. The councells that are receiued are therefore receiued because they decreed truely and not the trueth receiued because it was decreed in councells Else why is Nicene councel receiued and Arriminense reiected why is Ephesinum primum embraced and Ephesinum secundum detested Finally why is the determination of Nicene councell which is but one beleued against 10. councells holden by the Arrians but that the Nicene councell decreed according to the worde of God and all the rest against it wherfore if any councell decree according to the scriptures as the councell of the Apostles did Actes 15. and the councell of Nice with diuers other we receiue them with all humilitie as the oracles of god But if any councell decree contrary to the authoritie of the scriptures as many did without all presumptioÌ„ or pride we may iustly reiect them 3 And with such thus they lightely practise first by lofty lookes and high chalengies they crake and boste with passing boldnes that the learned men of the worlde the sage fathers of the auncient times all the graue Councells the whole vsage of the primitiue Church with plaine Scripture to be on their parte And as for the contrary teaching that it came in of late with the decay of learning and light of trueth in these barbarous times when superstition and daâ—ke ignorance had wasted the doctrine of the yeares past And in this bragge they stande till some Catholike man encounter with them By whome when they see them selues so driuen from the standinge which they kept with greate glory before that they must be wholy naked and destitute in the face of the worlde of all such helpes as they accompted to haue for the outwarde shew of their deceitfull doctrine then in plaine wordes they confesse their teaching not to hange on the antiquitie not on councells not on Doctors nor on any man but on Gods holy spirite and worde which can not deceiue them And so at the ende the olde vse of the primitiue Church the fathers and the generall Councells arrogantly contemned or rather vnworthely condemned marke well their prety conceites they make then a matche betwene them selues with Gods worde on the one partie and the doctors and fathers with out Gods worde on the other partie Affirming that they be not bounde to beleue them but where they agree with the scriptures of god And then turning their talke to the simple thus they preache vnto them by a captious and foolish demaunde whether they thinke it more reason or conuenient to beleue the scriptures or doctors the determination of the true and liuely worde of God or else the decree of a generall Councell which deceitfull wreasting of the state of our question somewhat troubles the vnlearned which can not perceiue hereby that they betray them selues and deface their owne doinges in so rude a defense For who seeth
not nowe that they renounce all that helpe of Councells Doctors which with vauntes they clamed before whiles they impudently make a diuision or contrarietie betwixt them and the holy scripture And we take it at their hand as an open acknowledging of their lacke there where they pretended greatest store The which thinge if they likewise would confesse openly in pulpit and in plaine words as they meane nothing lesse when they shew the people that they were but men that they might erre that they followed the custome of the common people in their time that they are not to be receiued but where they agree with scripture that them selues must try whether they be consonant to the word of God or no if they would I say without such cloked wordes bouldly pronounce as Luther their maister did that they cared not for a hundreth Augustines or Hieroms that they esteemed not the consent of all nations that they would be tryed by the iudgement of no coūcell that they would purposely runne contrary to the Councells decree in all causes that they would take that for thonely truth which is conteined in the holy Scriptures and that for Scripture which them selues thought good and last of all that for the true meaning which agreed best to the vpholding of error and heresie then would the people leaue these lewde masters on the plaine field which now they keepe with them one while by the praises of the doctors and antiquitie and somewhiles by thabasing of them againe and deceitfull referring all to the onely Scriptures to which they say credit may safely be giuen where the doctors without daunger can not be further followed then as they be not found to disagree with Gods word So that the cause seemeth now to be driuen to this ishue in the eyes of thignorant whether men should rather beleue the Scipture or the doctors the word of God that can not be false or the fathers that were but men and therfore might erre deceiue and be deceiued 3 But that you loue to spende many wordes about a thinge of naught you might haue spoken as much in three wordes as you haue done in three leaues But that I maye breefely cut of your lauesh lippe labor whereas you vse in deede as greate impudencie as you charge vs withall in wordes first you would make our chalenge contrary to it self as though one while we boast of the doctors and then being driuen from them we flie to the Scriptures They that dayly heare our preaching with any diligence peruse our writing can beare vs witnes that you doe falsely shamefully belie vs For we stand for authoritie onely to the iudgement of the holy Scriptures and whatsoeuer we say of fathers councells or the most auncient primitiue Church it is either for testimony of our truth or for conuiction of your lying For it is you M. Allen the Papists that boast of all antiquitie all fathers all doctors all councells all Churches to be all togither on your side among whom as we will not deny but you haue some Patrones of some of your errors so will we affirme that you haue more enemies in the greatest of your heresies And therefore this ishue is rightly ioyned and without any Ieofayle vpon this point that the Scripture is to be credited rather then the doctors the word of God rather then the writings of men 4 But this is not the state of our controuersie nor of any question betwixt the Catholikes and them And that they knowe full well though they craftely cloke it with chaunge of wordes for we acknowledge most gladly that if any Doctor Prophet Apostle or Angell if it were possible preach vnto vs any thing against the word and truth of Gods Scripture that he is accursed of God and to be reiected of men But here is the stand and the point of all our doubtes in generall note it well Maister Protestaunt whether the auncient fathers some of them being in Christes time diuers of them scholars to his Apostles many within one hundreth or two of yeares afterward most of them more thē a thousand yeares since I speake of such as we haue named in our cause all wonderfully learned as well in the knowledge of the secretes of Gods mysteries as the tongues all mercifully endued with great giftes and graces all exceeding studious in the Scriptures all hauing the same testament and written worde of God that we now haue all vsing meruelous diligence in the conference of diuers places for the true meaning and vnderstanding of the same all hauing feruent zeale in teaching the Christian people all at times appoynted resorting togither from diuers partes of the world to some one general search in which by humble conference togither and prayer they doubted not to obteyne the spirite of truth as it was by our Maister promised the question is now then I say whether those holy men thus holpen by nature diligence time and grace be not more like to vnderstand the Scripture then these men which either lacke all these helpes or most of them Secondly it followeth thereupon whether we should rather giue credit to them affirming purgatory and prayers for the deade to be not onely consonant but plainely proued by the Scriptures or else to our new aduersaries auouching these thinges to be against the Scripture VVhereby you see we must not nowe reason whether we ought to beleue the doctors or the Scriptures better but whether for the true sense we must not beleue the olde fathers better then these newe fooles 4 In wordes you graunt our ishue because you knowe that all the cuntry of christians would otherwise go against you but in deede you deny it For the ishue which you would ioyne vpon is both captious and doubtfull Captious because it disioyneth those thinges which are not to be separated namely the Scripture and the true meaning thereof Doubtfull because it standeth vpon a likelyhoode and not vpon a certeinty For thus you ioyne whether the olde doctors be more like to vnderstand the Scriptures then the Protestants I haue aunswered before we wil make no comparison with them Neither will we challenge the likelyhood to vs neither will we leaue it to them for whether so euer we doe we shall be neuer the more certeine of the truth But this will we set downe as a most certeine principle that no man can vnderstand the Scriptures but by the same spirite by which they were written What then shall we arrogate the spirite as proper to vs and deny it to them God forbid They had their measure of Gods spirite we humbly thanke his maiestie so haue we How then is the spirite of God contrary to it selfe because they and we agree not in all thinges God forbid Cyprian and Cornelius were both endued with Gods spirite and both Martyres yet they agreed not both in one interpretation nor iudgement of the scripture what then there remaineth but this second
of the exposition of the fathers Hieronym in his commentary vpon this place expoundeth the Northe and the Southe not for the states of grace or wrath but for the places of rewarde or punishment of them that die Si dignos Austro fructus attulit in plaga iacebit Australi Nec est aliquid lignum quod aut ad Aquilonem non sit aut ad Austrum If it haue brought forth fructes worthy of the South it shal lye in the Southe coste Neither is there any tree but it falleth either to the North or to the South As for your babling of the Saduces secte and doubting of the resurrection bidde your Popes and Cardinalls take heede of it Pope Iohn the 23. was condemned for it in the Councell of Constance Epicureisme and Saduceisme is more common at Rome then Christianitye 4 Nowe for the other texte recited out of S. Matthewes Gospell of the double waye the one to perdicion and the other to saluation there is almost none so simple but he seeth that it maketh no more for your purpose then the other For there as our aduersary can not but knowe though to deceiue he liste dissemble mention is made and the meaning is only of these two wayes in this worlde and life in one of which being full of ease and libertie the wicked walketh towardes hell or damnation In the which waye the riche man and vnmercifull tooke his time of whome Abraham said that he had receiued good in his dayes In the other being both straite and harde the small numbre of the chosen take their iourney towardes heauen And yet if you thinke good you maye ioyne the place of temporall punishment for sinne in the worlde to come to the straite and painefull passage of the elect though perhaps all they entre not thereby And so shall you finde this place not onely nothing to further their cause but somewhat to helpe ours 4 If there be but two wayes in this life there are but two abiding places after this life If there be more then two after this life then there be more wayes then two in this life Controll our Sauiour Christes partition as vnperfect if you list You will saye that needeth not for purgatory after this life is that straight gate or a pece of it what els It is not enough for our English Anaxagoras to exclude our opinion out of these places but he must finde purgatory in them also This is plaine to make quidlibet ex quolibet But the commaundement of Christ marreth the market of this interpretation vnlesse you thinke when Christ willeth vs to striue to goe in by the straight gate that he biddeth vs striue to goe into purgatory 5 And so for the other taken out of the fift to the Corinth S. Augustine shall aunswere you and beare me witnesse it maketh nothing for you his wordes be these in his Encheridion This practise that Gods Church vseth in the commendations of the deade is nothing repugnant to the sentence of the Apostle where he saith that we all shall stande before the iudgement seate of Christ that euery one may receiue according to his desertes in the body either good or euill for this in his life and before death he deserued that these workes after his death might be profitable vnto him for in deede they be not profitable for all men and why so but because of the difference and diuersitie of mens liues whilest they were in this flesh c. And this same sentence the Doctor often repeteth almost in the same forme of wordes in diuers places both to correct their ignorance that mighe take a way prayers for the deade because they finde the sentence of Gods iudgement to be executed on man according to the deseruing of this liefe and no lesse to geue monition to the carelesse that they omitte not to doe well in this life vppon hope or presumption of other mens workes after their decease which as they be exceding beneficiall to many so they helpe none such as in their owne life woulde not helpe them selues The like declaration of this pointe hath S. Denyse in the 7. chapter of his Ecclesiasticall soueraignty which I omitte lest in this point by S. Augustine sufficiently auouched I weerye the reader without cause 5 And S. Ieronym with your owne canon law shall aunswere you that prayers preuayle not after this life 13. q. 2. In praesenti In this present world we know that we may be helped one of an other either by prayer or by councel but when we shall come before the iudgement seate of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can intreate for any man but euery man must beare his owne burden 6 The last obiection of the Angells wordes in the Apocalypse aâ—firming the state of all those that dye in our Lorde to be happy to be past trauell and in reste and peace they be properly spoken there of holy men that sheede their bloude in the times of persecution for Christes sake to geue them assured comforte after a litle toleration and patience in the rage of Antichrist of blessed and eternall reste and so the circumstance of the letter plainely geueth and so doeth S. Augustine expounde it And for such holy Martyrs it is needlesse to pray as to pray vnto them is most profitable Albeit the wordes are true and maye be well verified of all that passe hense in the happy state of grace being past the cares of this troblesome worlde and which is the greatest trauell of all other vtterly dispatched of the toile that sinners take in their wayes of wickednesse with freedome from sinne and all feare of sinne and damnation for euermore So that this reste from labour is no more but a happy ioye of conscience with securitie of saluation and peace in Christ iesu For which cause in the holy Canon of the Masse it is saide Christianos dormire in somno pacis in Christo quiescere That Christian folkes doe sleepe in the sleepe of peace and rest in Christ though for all that in the same place we aske Requiem refrigerium reste and refreshing for them And this holy peace from all toyle of the worlde and worme of tormented conscience the electe children of God in their fathers correction being assured of his eternall loue doe blessedly enioye But the wicked be in contrary case of whome it is saide non est pax impijs there is no rest or quietnesse to the wicked no not in their dayes of ioye much lesse in their infinite miserie of their euerlasting torments in the worlde to come Of whose vnhappy state the Prophet warneth vs thus againe Impij quasi mare feruens quod quiescere non potest The wicked be right like vnto the tumblinge and tossinge sea that neuer resteth The place of S. Iohn then being namely spoken of holy Martyrs that straight with out all paine after this life passe to heauen may yet very
penaunce there remaineth some due of temporall punishement for the satisfying of Gods iustice and some recompense of the oftensies past 31. chapter 2 The double and doubtfull shiftes of our aduersaries pressed by this conclusion are remoued and it is proued against one sorte that these foresaide skourgies vvere in deede punishments for sinnes remitted And against the other secte that this transitory paine hath often endured in the next life 43. chapter 3 That the practise of Christes Church in the courte of binding and loosing mans sinnes doth liuely set forth the ordre of Gods iustice in the next life and proue Purgatory 65. chapter 4 That the many folde vvorkes fructes of penaunce vvhich all godly meÌ„ haue charged theÌ„ selues vvith all for their ovvn sinnes remitted vvere in respect of Purgatory paines for the auoyding of Gods iudgemeÌ„t teÌ„poral as vvell as eternal in the next life 74. chapter 5 A briefe ioyning in reason and argument vppon the proued groundes vvith the aduersaries for the declaration and proofe of Purgatory 89. chapter 6 That Purgatory paines doth not only serue Gods iustice for the punishement of sinne but also cleanse qualify the soule of man defiled for the more seemely entrauÌ„ce into the holy placies vvith confereÌ„ce of certaine textes of scripturs for that purpose 92. chapter 7 That there is a particular iudgemeÌ„t and priuate accompt to be made at euery mans departure of his seuerall actes and deedes vvith certaine of the fathers mindes touching the textes of scriptures alleaged before 103. chapter 8 Origen is alleaged for our cause vpon vvhose error in a matter somvvhat apperteining to our purpose S. Augustins iudgement is more largely sought and there vvith it is declared by testimony of diuers holy authors vvhat sinnes be chiefly purged in that temporall fire 114. chapter 9 A further declaration of this point for the better vnderstanding of the doctors vvordes VVherein it is opened hovv Purgatory is ordeined for mortall sinnes and hovv for smaller offenses vvho are like to feele that greefe and vvho not at all 125. chapter 10 A place alleaged for Purgatory out of S. Matthevv vvith certeine of the auncient fathers iudgements vpon the same 132. chapter 11 An aunsvvere to certaine obiections of the aduersaries moued vpon the diuersity of meaninges vvhich they see geuen in the fathers vvritinges of the scriptures before alleaged for Purgatory and that this doctrine of the Church standeth not against the sufficiency of Christes Passion 148. chapter 12 An euident and most certaine demonstration of the trueth of Purgatory and the greeuousnesse thereof vttered by the prayers and vvordes of the holy doctors and by some extraordinary vvorkes of God beside 156. chapter 13 Of the nature and condicion of Purgatory fire the difference of their state that be in it from the damned in hell vvith the conclusion of this Booke 169. THE ARGVMENTES OF THE Chapters of the seconde booke THe preface of this booke vvherein the matter of the treatise the order of the authors proceding be briefly opened 180 chapter 1 That there be certeyne sinnes vvhich may be forgiuen in the next life and that the deserued punishment for the same may be eased or vtterly released before the extreme sentence be to the vtmost executed pag. 187. chapter 2 That the faythfull soules in purgatory being novve past the state of deseruing and not in case to helpe them selues may yet receiue benefite by the vvorkes of the liuing to vvhom they be perfectly knitte as felloâ— members of one body 197. chapter 3 VVhat the Church of God hath euer principally practised for the soules departed by the vvarrant of holy Scripture vvith the defence of the Machabees holy hystory against the heretikes of our tyme. 205. chapter 4 That the funeralls of the Patriarches both in the lavv of nature and Moyses and Christ had practise in them for the reliefe of the soules departed 220. chapter 5 Man may be relieued after his departure eyther by the almes vvhich he gaue in his life tyme or by that vvhich is prouided by his testament to be giuen after his death or else by that almes vvhich other men doe bestovv for his soules sake of their ovvne goods 238. chapter 6 Of certeyne offerings or publike almes presented to God for the deceased in the time of the holy sacrifice at mens burialls other customable dayes of their memories and of the sundry mindes kept in the primitiue Church for the departed 266. chapter 7 That the benefite of praier almes apperteyneth not to such as dye in mortal sin though in the doubtfull case of mans being the Church vseth to pray for all departed in Christes faith 271. chapter 8 VVhat that holy sacrifice is vvhich vvas euer counted so beneficiall to the liue and deade The punishment of our sinnes by the heâ—uy losse thereof The great hatred vvhich the deuill and all his side hath euer borne tovvardes Christes eternall priesthood and the sacrifice of the Church And that by the sayd sacrifice of the Masse the soules departed are especially relieued 288. chapter 9 That the practise of any poynt in religion maketh the most opeÌ„ shevv of the fathers faith And that all holy men haue in plain vvordes and most godly prayers vttered their beliefe in our matter 304. chapter 10 That vve all nations receiued this vsage of praying sacrificing for the departed at our first conuersion to Christes faith And that this article vvas not onely confirmed by miracle amongest the rest but seuerally by signes and vvonders approued by it selfe And that the Church is grovvne to such bevvty by the frute of this faith 328. chapter 11 That in euery order or vsage of celebration of the blessed Sacrament and Sacrifice throughout the Christian vvorlde since Christes time there hath ben a solemne supplicatioÌ„ for the soules departed 347. chapter 12 The heretikes of our tyme and cuntry be yet further vrged vvith the practise of prayers for the deceased their contrary coÌ„munion is compared vvith the olde vsage of celebration â—hey are ashamed of the first originall of their Christian faith they are vveary of their ovvne seruice they are kept in order by the vvisdome of the ciuill Magistrates and are forced to refuse all the doctors 364. chapter 13 That the praying for the deade vvas appoynted to be had in the holy sacrifice by the Apostles commaundement and prescription And that our doctors by the maiestie of their name beare dovvne our light aduersaries 386. chapter 14 The first author of that sect vvhich denyeth prayers for the departed is noted his good conditions and cause of his error be opened vvhat kind of men haue bene most bent in all ages to that sect And that this heresie is euer ioyned as a fitte compagnion to other horrible sectes 407. chapter 15 Their falshood is condemned and the Catholike truth approued by the authority of holy Councells Their pride in contemning the Catholikes humility in obedient receiuing the same And a sleight vvhereby the heretikes deceiue the people is detected 424. chapter 16 An aunsvvere to such arguments as the heretikes doe frame of the holy scriptures not vvell vnderstanded against the practise of Gods Church in praying for the deade or the doctrine of Purgatory 436. chapter 17 An aunsvvere to their negatiue argument vvith the Conclusion of the booke 448. FINIS