the earth to the end that be might there communicate his presence to the Patriarchs and Prophets c. You have enough to put by those who insolently enough think not that the souls of the Faithfull justly go to hell by telling them they are Servants above their Master conceiving it not much it may be in the bosom of Abraham to reap the comfort of the resurrection which is to be expected c. Heaven is not opened to any one while the Earth is entire c. We have in our Book Of Paradise made it good that every soul is sequestred in hell till the day of the Lord. And in the fifty sixth Chapter Why do you not judge worthy hell those souls which are pure and innocent And in the fifty eighth Chapter All souls say you are whether you will or no in hell there you have already both the Punishments and the Refreshments there you have the poor man and the rich c. By that prison we mean hell which also the Gospel shews and the utmost farthing we interpret to be any light offence which is to be punished there by the delay of the resurrection And in his third Book Against Marcion and the twenty fourth Chapter Marcion having said that he expected after this life ended Refreshment in hell in the bosom of Abraham Tertullian inferrs thence against him that God is mercifull and makes this Exclamation Oh God! mercifull even in hell And in the thirty fourth Chapter of the fourth Book I say that Abraham's Bosom is a Region though not celestial yet higher then hell which in the interim shall afford refreshment to the souls of the Just till such time as all things being accomplished all receive the fulness of their reward at the general resurrection c. And in his Scorpiacum in the twelfth Chapter In the mean time the souls of the Martyrs rest quietly under the Altar c. Novatian that famous Priest of the Romane Church who in the year 250. was opposed to Pope Cornelius doth in the first Chapter of his Book Of the Trinity follow the Track of Tertullian saying That even those very things which lie under the earth are not void of certain powers being placed every one according to its rank and order for there is one place into which are brought the souls as well of the godly as the wicked feeling before-hand the sentence of the future Judgment Lastly Origen that famous Priest of Caesarea whom St. Hierome in his Preface before his Interpretation of Hebrew Names sometime acknowledged Master of the Churches after the Apostles and whom he observes to have departed this life in the year 254. or thereabouts expresses himself to the same effect saying in his fourth Book Of Principles Those who withdraw out of this world according to the death common to all are disposed of according to their acts and merits as they shall be judged worthy some to the place which is called Hell others into Abraham's Bosom into several Mansions Where it is to be noted that by Hell he means the lower parts of Hell and by Abraham's Bosom the place of sequestration where the dead in his judgment are detained before the final Judgment and not celestial glory which in his seventh Homily upon Leviticus he pretends that none of the Saints are admitted to since he formally excludes from the enjoyment thereof the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles saying that they have not yet received their joy that they expect ours and that they mourn for our sins It is therefore manifest from the unanimous consent of the precedent Testimonies that all the Authours we have left us of the second and as far as the middle of the third Age were all of the same Opinion as being imbued with the Doctrine contained in the Sibylline Books and proposed by each of them as the common sentiment of the whole Church Somewhat to the same purpose may analogically be said of those who followed them in the after-ages as for instance of the Authour of the Constitutions attributed to St. Clement in the fourty second Chapter of his eighth Book of the Authour of the Recognitions in his first Book of the Authour of the Liturgie which goes under the Name of St. James of Victorinus Bishop of Poictiers and Martyr upon the sixth Chapter of the Apocalyps of Lactantius in the twenty first Chapter of his seventh Book of St. Ambrose in the second Chapter of his second Book of Cain and Abel and the tenth Chapter of his Book De bono Mortis of Saint Chrysostome in his fourth Homily upon Genesis and the thirty ninth Homily upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians and the seventh and twenty eighth Homilies upon the Epistle to the Hebrews of Prudentius in his Hymn upon the Obsequies of the dead and of the eighteen Martyrs of Saragossa of St. Augustine upon the thirty sixth Psalm and the seventh Chapter of the eleventh Book De Genesi ad Literam and the thirty fifth Chapter of the twelfth Book and in the hundred and eighth Chapter of his Enchiridion and in the ninth Chapter of his twelfth Book Of the City of God and the fourteenth Chapter of the first Book of his Retractations of the Authour of the Questions attributed to Justin Martyr in the sixtieth and seventy sixth Question of Basil of Seleucia in his tenth Oration of Theodoret Theophylact and Oecumenius upon the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews of Andrew and Aretas of Caesarea in Cappadocia upon the sixth Chapter of the Apocalyps of Euthymius upon the twenty third Chapter of Saint Luke of the Authour of the Imperfect Work upon Saint Matthew in the thirty fourth Homily of St. Bernard in his third and fourth Sermon upon the Feast of All-Saints and of Pope John the two and twentieth For though many of these later moderating after their manner the Opinion of those who preceeded the year 300. do either forbear making any specifical designation of the place where the Saints are entertained after their death contenting themselves to call it indefinitely with St. Augustine secret and hidden receptacles or with Primasius the secret of God as it were to insinuate that it is known to God only or are so confident as to affirm it to be out of Hell not precisely determining what other habitation it pleased God to assign them yet all agree in this that they often make use of those Expressions which seem to defer the Glory and Beatitude of their souls till the Day of the general Resurrection CHAP. X. The second capital Tenet of the Sibylline Writings THe second Point of Doctrine advanced by the Author of the Sibylline Writings concerning the State of the dead is that all without any exception shall pass through the last Conflagration of the Universe which shall purge the just and shall refine them in such as we say that Gold is melted or refined in the Crucible To this effect is what we read in the second Book page 17.
was restored to Christ c. And of Paulina the Wife of Pammachius departed this life in the year 393. Illa Blaesilla cum sorore Paulina dulci somno fruitur tu duarum medius leviùs ad Christum subvolabis c. Blaesilla with her Sister Paulina rests in a quiet sleep thou being between both shalt have a more easie flight to Christ c. Of Paula the Mother of Blaesilla and Paulina departed in Beth-lehem on the twenty eighth of January 404. Fides opera tua Christo te sociant praesens quod postulas facilius impetrabis c. Thy Faith and Works associate thee to Christ being present O Paula thou shalt more easily obtain what thou desirest c. Aspices angustum praecisâ rupe Sepulchrum Hospitium Paulae coelestia regna tenentis c. Seest thou a Rock t' a narrow Coffin hewn 'T is Paula's Mansion who to Heav'n is flown Of Lucinus departed about the year 410. Obsecro te c. I beseech thee Theodorus that thou wouldest bewail thy Lucinius as a Brother yet so as to rejoyce withall that he reigns with Christ c. Confident and Conquerour he looks from on high c. Of Fabiola departed in the year 401. Depositâ tandem sarcinâ levior volavit ad Caelum c. Having lay'd down her burthen she is fled with more ease towards heaven Saint Chrysostome of Berenice and Prosdoce who were drowned during the Persecution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moreover these were with the Souldiers of Christ the heavenly Angels Of Pelagia who had cast her self down Headlong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. She ran not towards the top of a mountain but towards the highest heaven c. The threatning of the Judg c. pressed her to flie with greater haste towards heaven c. She went out of her Chamber out of the Woman's Closet into another Chamber that is to say heaven c. Which is as much as he could have said and what he had said in substance of the greatest Martyrs St. Ignatius of Antioch St. Romanus St. Julian St. Juventinus St. Maximus and others whose Elogies he writ The same St. Chrysostome says also of Philogonius Arch-Bishop of Antioch deceased the twentieth of December about the year 322. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ascending into heaven he hath no need of the Praises of men since he is gone to a greater and more happy portion c. He is transferred to the Society of Angels c. Of Eustathius who had held the same See and died about the year 359. upon the sixteenth of July 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transferred to heaven he is gone towards Jesus whom he had desired and almost in the same Terms of Meletius his Ordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is gone towards Jesus whom he had desired St. Augustine of Verecundus who had entertained him and all his Company at his Countrey-House Retribues illi Domine in resurrectione Justorum quia jam ipsam sortem retribuisti ei c. O Lord thou shalt reward him in the Resurrection of the Just because thou hast already cast that Lot upon him And of Nebridius who was come out of Africk into Italy to live with him Nunc ille vivit in sinu Abrahae c. Now he lives in Abraham ' s Bosom whatsoever it be that is understood by that Bosom There my Nobridius lives that dear Friend of mine and thy adopted Son O Lord who had once been a Bond-slave but was after freed There he liveth for what other place can be fit for such a Soul In that place he liveth whereof he was wont to ask me miserable and unexperienced man so many Questions Now he no longer laies his Ear to my Mouth but applies his spiritual mouth to thy Spring and drinks Wisdom after the rate of his greedy Thirst happy to all Eternity Paulinus of Rusina the Wife of Alethius Habes jam in Christo magnum tui pignus c. Thou hast already in Christ a great pledge of thy self an earnest Suffr age thy Wife who prepares as much favour for thee in the Heavenly Places as thou furnishest her with abundance from those upon Earth c. She abounds by the supplies of thy Wealth being clad in a Golden Vesture and cloathed all over with variety viz. precious light c. Paulinus the African of St. Ambrose Ubi corpus Domini accepit c. After be had received the Body of our Lord he gave up the Ghost taking along with him a good provision that his Soul being more refreshed by the strength of that Viand should be now rejoycing in the Society of Angels and Elias whose Life he lived here Sulpicius Severus of St. Martin who died on Sunday November the eleventh 400. Spiritum coelo reddidit c. He resigned his Spirit to Heaven c. There was an holy rejoycing at his Glory c. The Heavenly Company singing Hymns accompanies the Body of the Blessed man to the place of his Enterment c. Martin hath the Acclamations of divine Psalms Martin is honoured with Ecclesiastical Hymns c. Martin is entertained with joy in Abraham ' s Bosom Martin who had been here poor and beggarly enters Rich into Heaven c. And it is to be noted by the way that that Great Man a little before he gave up the Ghost had answered those who would have had him to lie on his side Sinite me Fratres coelum potius respicere quà m terram ut suo jam itinere iturus ad Dominum Spiritus dirigatur Suffer me Brethren rather to look up towards Heaven then down upon the ground that my Spirit which is now taking its journey to God may be directed in its way Palladius writes of St. Chrysostome who dyed November the seventh 407. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Passing hence to Christ c. Ennodius Bishop of Pavia of Epiphanius his Praedecessour deceased January the twenty first 496. Cùm beatissimus cerneret Pontifex c. The blessed Prelate seeing c. that he was ready to fly to the pure brightness of Heaven c. assured of his perfection he added My heart is confirmed in the Lord c. So as that heavenly Soul resounding with Hymns and Songs even at the point of Death returned to her Lord c. He whose departure we bewail upon Earth is in possession of the high places with God c. And of Anthony the Hermit of Valtelina afterwards a Monk in the Monastery of Lerina deceased December the twenty eighth 488. Mundi istius sarcinam deponens c. Laying down the burthen of this World and having overcome the Ambushes laid by the craft of the old Serpent he hath exchanged our day and the light of this present World for that which is perpetual If the Harmony of all these Testimonies which have been produced suffice not to satisfie and perswade the most-prepossessed Spirits that the most eminent and best-informed Antiquity reforming the
c. He rejoyces with the Angels in the Kingdom of heaven I acknowledg that the Opinion of Purgatory crept in among the Latines about the end of the sixth Age having by little and little gained credit many were easily induced to compose Epitaphs containing certain Wishes and Prayers for the Dead Yet did not their scrupulous manner of proceeding hinder any that would from attributing to them the possession of Celestial glory immediately upon their departure out of this life Thus the Epitaph of Pope Stephen the Sixth deceased the one and twentieth of May 891. hath these express Terms Aethera scandit spiritus almus ovans c. His milde Spirit ascends heaven triumphing That of the Kings Conrade the First Otho the First and Second and Zuentibold of Adalberon Bishop of Mets of Count Hugh and his Wife of the Countess Eve and her Sons of Arnoul and Rembal of Oudri Arch-Bishop of Rheims of Beatrix and Warin Abbot of Saint Arnoul de Mets express that their Souls In Coelis aeternâ pace fruuntur c. In heaven enjoy eternal Peace That of Reynold Abbot of S. Cyprian in Poictiers deceas'd in the year 1100. Rainaldi pars promptior Astra petivit c. Reynold's more willing part to heav'n is gone That of the Nun Benedicta Spiritus Astra tenet c. Of heav'n her Spirit 's possest That of Ranulphus the Priest her Contemporary Protinus ad Superos carne solutus abis c. Spiritus ecce tuus gaudens fuper Astra perennat c. Flesh once lay'd by to heav'n thou streight dost go c. Thy Spirit above eternal Joy attends Again Dans animam Coelo reddidit ossa solo c. To heav'n thy soul to earth thy bones return That of King Philip the First deceased in the year 1108. Augusti ternis conscendit in aeth'ra Kalendis c. He on the third of the Calends Of August unto heav'n ascends That of Reynold de Martigni Arch-Bishop of Rheims deceased in the year 1137. Hunc duodena dies Februi praeeuâ—do Kalendas Destituit mundo substituitque Polo c. On January's one and twentieth day He left the world and went to heav'n to stay That of Gerald first Abbot of Selue-Majour in Bourdelois deceased in the year 1094. the sixth of April En felix anima Coeli laetatur in Aula c. Coelorum civis dormîit in Domino c. Liber Coelos spiritus obtinuit c. Spiritus Abbatis vindicat Astra sibi c. Spiritus alta tenet c. His blissfull soul in Heav'n rejoycing is c. Heav'n's Citizen rests in the Lord c. His unconfin'd spirit in Heav'n is fix'd c. The Abbot's soul does challenge heav'n c. His spirit is on high That of Berenger Arch-Deacon of St. Maurice's of Anger 's deceased the sixth of January 1088. In Jano patuit tibi Janua vitae c. In Janus Moneth Life's Gate receiv'd thee And again Coelos animâ corpore ditat humum c. His Body Earth his Soul does Heav'n enrich That of the Empress Agnes deceased the 14th of December 1077. Die XIV Mensis Decembris animam bonis operibus foecundam Lateranis Salvatori suo atque omnium bonorum Authori reddidit hic quintâ die Mensis Januarii expectans spem Beatae Resurrectionis adventum Magni Dei membra carnis commendavit in pace Amen Vpon the fourteenth of December at Lateran she returned to her Saviour and God the Authour of all good things her soul fruitfull in good Works and on the fifth of January she recommended to this place her fleshly Members expecting the hope of a blessed Resurrection and the coming of the Great God Amen That of Bruno first General of the Carthusians deceased the sixth of October 1101. Ossa manent Tumulo Spiritus Astra petit c. Earth hath his bones to heav'n his spirit flies That of Geoffrey Bishop of Amiens deceased the eighth of November 1118. Hic jacet Astra petens c. Here going to Heav'n he lies That of Peter of Placentia Cardinal Terra suum Corpus Animámque recepit Olympus The Earth his body Heav'n his soul receiv'd That of Burohard Arch-Bishop of Vienna deceased about the year 1035. August the twenty ninth Cum quo perpetuò pace viget placidâ c. Sanctus Spiritus Astra petit c. Curribus ignicomis ad Superos gereris c. With him he lives in undisturbed peace c. His Holy Spirit to Heav'n flies c. In fiery Chariots to Heav'n thou' rt convey'd That of Alberic Arch-bishop of Bourges deceased in the year 1140. Modò major in arce Polorum c. In Heav'n he greater is That of Peter Leo in the year 1144. Junius in Mundo fulgebat Sole secundo Separat hunc nobis cùm Polus atque Lapis c. June's second day shone bright when joyless we Lost him between Earth and Felicity That of Peter Bishop of Poictiers deceased in the year 1115. unjustly reduced by Cardinal Baronius to the year 1130. Nunc dives liber stabilis sua praemia Christum Astra petit sequitur possidet iste Petrus c. Promovit privavit eum profugúmque recepit Papa Comes Christus ordine sede Polo c. This Peter rich freed firm rewards Christ Heav'n Now seeks pursues possesses freely giv'n c. A Pope Count Christ him rais'd depriv'd with love Receiv'd to Prelacy of 's See above That of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury Assassinated the nine and twentieth of July 1170. Ab Orbe Pellitur fructus incipit esse Poli c. Forc'd hence in Heav'n he begins to grow That of Stephen Bishop of Meaux deceased the 12th of January 1187. Liber vivit terrâ divisus Astris Quae dederat Coelum Terráque solvit eis c. He freely lives 'tween Heav'n and Earth bestow'd And pay'd what unto Heaven and Earth he ow'd That of Robert Arch-bishop of Vienna deceased in the year 1195. June the seven and twentieth Junius aethereis mensis te reddidit oris c. Thee to thy Heav'nly Countrey June hath brought That of Mauricius Bishop of Paris deceased the eleventh of September 1196. Migrat Parisii Pater ad patriam Paradisi Mauricius c. Father of Paris Mauricius is hence To Paradise transferr'd That of Humbert Arch-bishop of Vienna deceased the twentieth of November 1125. Spiritus aeth'ra Praesulis Umberti petit c. The Prelat Umbert's Soul to Heav'n is gone That of Raoul Bishop of Arras deceased in the year 1220. Coeli Civis meritorum pondere vivis c. The weight of thy Good Works do thee sustain Thou Citizen of Heav'n That of Peter of Doway Arch-bishop of Sens deceased the twelfth of June 1222. Qui Spei certae suberat modò cernit apertè c. Who what he surely hop'd now clearly sees That of Hervey Bishop of Troyes deceased July the second 1223. Reddo Polo Spiritum ossa Solo c. My soul to heav'n my bones to
369. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He receives the Rewards of his new-created Soul which the Spirit had reformed by Water And of his Sister Gorgonia who died not long after viz. on the ninth of December 372. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The things which are now present to thee are much more precious then those which are seen The noise of those which make a Feast the Quires of the Angels the Order of Heaven the contemplation of Glory and more then all this the Irradiation of the Trinity which is above all things and of all things the most pure and most perfect And â—f St. Athanasius who died May the second 371. That thou wouldest he pleased to look on us from on high Of Gregory his Father who died the year following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Make known unto us in what place of Glory thou art and the light which encompasseth thee Of his dear Friend St. Basil who died January the first 378. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is now in Heaven St. Gregory Nyssenus of St. Ephraim who died on the 28th of the same Moneth of January 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He expired in the quiet Haven of the Eternal Kingdom and is kindly received into it But where otherwise may it be conjectured that his Soul hath been deposited if not as indeed it is manifest in the Celestial Tabernacles where are the Batallions of Angels a Populace of Patriarchs Quires of Prophets the Thrones of the Apostles the Joy of the Martyrs the Exultation of Saints the Splendour of the Doctours the Assembly of the First-born the perfect Noise of those that are a Feasting To those good things in which the Angels desire to rest themselves that they may see them into that sacred place the most blessed in all kinds and most holy soul of our Blessed and worthy-to-be-celebrated Father is passed Of the great Meletius Arch-Bishop of Antioch who died on the twelfth of February 381. before he could have enjoyed the Communion of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. No longer as through a Glass and obscurely but face to face he prays to God Of Pulcheria Daughter to the Emperour THEODOSIUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She was transferred from one Kingdom to another Of Flavilla first Wife to the same Prince who died in the year 385. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Her conversation is in the Royal Palaces of Heaven St. Ambrose of his Brother Satyrus who dyed September the seventeenth 383. De istius Beatitudine dubitare nequaquam debemus c. We ought not to doubt of his Beatitude Of the Emperour VALENTINIAN the Second two Moneths after his Assà ssination which happened on Saturday Whitsun-Eve May the fifteenth 382. before that Prince had received Baptism Ille etiam talis ut ei nihil timeatis c. He is now in such a condition that you need not fear what may happen to him as before c. I ask whether there be any Sentiment after death or not If there be he lives or rather because he lives he is already in possession of Eternal Life c. That he was so soon snatched from us we are to grieve that he is passed into a better Estate it should be our comfort c. Thou lookest on us Holy Soul from an high place as casting thy sight on things that are below c. Now borrowing light from the Sun of Righteousness thou enjoyest a clear day c. His going hence was most noble as a Flight into Heaven c. What thou hast sown upon Earth reap it there c. The stain of Sin being done off he whom his Faith washed his Prayer consecrated is gone up cleansed into Heaven c. joyned with his Brother Gratian he enjoyes the pleasures of eternal Life c. Of the Emperour THEODOSIUS who dyed January the seventeenth 395. Regnum non deposuit sed mutavit c. He hath not layd by but exchanged the Royal Dignity being admitted by the Prerogative of Piety into the Tabernacles of Christ into that Jerusalem which is above where being now placed he saith As we have heard so have we seen in the City of the LORD of Hosts c. Having gone through a doubtfull combat Theodosius of famous Memory does now enjoy perpetual Light and a Tranquility of long continuance and hath the self-satisfaction of what he did in his â—…ly in the Fruits of divine remuneration c. He hath deserved admittance into the Society of the Saints c. His abode is in light c. He is over-joyed to be in the Assemblies of the Saints c. There he now embraces Gratian c. Who enjoyes the rest of his Soul c. Being pious he hath passed from the obscurity of this World to eternal Light c. Now does he know that he reigns since that he is in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus and considers his Temple c. Constantinople thou art evidently happy who receivest a Guest of Paradise and shalt entertain in the narrow Inn of a Sepulchre an Inhabitant of that City which is on high c. And of Ascholius Arch-Bishop of Thessalonica who dyed about the year 385. Est Superorum incola possessor civitatis aeternae illius Hierusalem quae in caelo est videt illis facie ad faciem c. He is an Inhabitant of the places which are above a Possessour of the Eternal City of that Jerusalem which is in Heaven there he sees face to face St. Hierome of Blaesilla who died in the year 382. Postquam sarcinâ carnis abjectâ c. Having layd down its burthen of Flesh the Soul is fled back to her Authour after a long Pilgrimage she is ascended into her antient possession c. Me-thought then when her Coffin was making ready she cryed from Heaven I know not those Garments that Covering is not mine c. Blaesilla now followeth Jesus she is now in the society of the holy Angels c. She is passed from Darkness to Light c. She lives with Christ in the Heavens c. Of Lea who died March the two and twentieth 384. Universorum gaudiis prosequenda c. She is to be attended with the joy of all who having trod Satan under foot hath received the Crown of Security c. For a short trouble she now enjoyes eternal Beatitude she is received into the Quires of Angels she is cherished in the Bosom of Abraham c. she follows Christ and saith All the things which we have heard of the same we have also seen in the City of our God c. Of Nepotianus a Priest of Altinum who died in the year 397. Scimus Nepotianum nostrum esse cum Christo Sanctorum mixtum Choris c. Corpus terra suscepit anima Christo reddita est c. We know that our Friend Nepotianus is with Christ and among the Quires of the Saints c. The Earth received his Body his Soul
the Consulship of Basilius that is to say in the year 553. Fulgida regna petens coelesti sorte vocatus Lucis aeternae penetrans fastigia laetus Optimus atque pius nunc Florentinus in isto Resplendot Tumulo c. Hinc celsa Poli capiens jam praemia felix Sanctorum socius fruitur cum laude coronam c. Good Florentinus fam'd for Piety Call'd hence by a celestial Lot does hy Joyfull to th' Palace of eternal Light Shining ev'n in his Tomb Heav'n's high rewards he happy does obtain And with the Saints an equal Crown does gain That of Pope PELAGIUS the First deceased March the 2d 559. Vivit in arce Poli coelesti luce beatus c. In th' Starry Tow'rs Blest with celestial light he spends his hours That of St. Germain of Paris deceased the 28th of March 576. Carne tenet Tumulum mentis honore Polum c. Jure triumphali considet arce Poli c. The Tomb with Flesh he fills the Heav'n his Mind Adorns c. He sits in Heav'n by a Triumphal right That of Chlodobert the Son of King Chilperïcus and Fredegonda Non fleat ullus amor quem modo cingit honor c. Perpetui regni se favet arce frui c. Whom Honour now surrounds no Love bewail c. He Joyes possess'd of the eternal Throne That of Dagobert Brother of Chlodobert Rapte Polis c. Lux tenet alta Throno c. To Heav'n snatch'd c. an Heav'nly light detains Him on the Throne That of Andrew of Caieta deceased in the year 585. Pande tuas Paradise fores sedémque beatam Andreae meritum suscipe Pontificis c. Quae meditata fides credita semper inhaesit Haec te usque ad coelos super astra tulit c. For Andrew's Merit open'd Heav'n prepare A blessed Seat The constant Faith which ever was in thee Hath rais'd thee above Heav'n's sublimity That of Gregory Bishop of Langres deceased January the 4th about the year 540. Post Tumulos implet honore Polos c. Nunc super Astra manet c. Death once o'recome he fills the Heav'n with praise c. His Mansion is above the Stars That of Tetricus Son and Successour of Gregory deceased about the year 570. Dignus in Astris Mentis honore nites Thou by an exc'llent mind Among the Stars to shine a place dost finde That of Evemerus Bishop of Nantes deceased about the year 550. Aeternum locum missus ad Astra tenet c. Felix ille abîit c. Sent to the Skies his everlasting Seat c. Blest man he 's gone That of the two Ruricius's Bishops of Limoges Grand-father Grand-childe the former deceased about the year 500 the later about the year 550. Inter Apostolicos credimus esse Choros c. Among th' Apostles we believe they are That of Chronopius Bishops of Perigueux deceased about the year 540. Tua Coelis stat sine labe domus c. Nunc tibi pro meritis est sine fine dies c. Thy House in Heaven stands c. For thy good Works an endless day 's thy lot That of Chalacterius or Cales Bishop of Chartres deceased the eighth of October about the year 570. Abreptus terris justus ad Astra redis c. Ad Paradisiacas Epulas te cive reducto Unde gemit mundus gaudet honore Polus c. Snatch'd from the Earth thou dost to Heav'n retire c. While thou at heav'nly Feasts art entertain'd The Earth bewails what Heaven hence ha's gain'd Where by what makes the Farth bewail must needs be understood the Translation of that Prelate into Glory That of Esocius Bishop of Limoges deceased about the year 580. Non decet hunc igitur vacuis deflere lamentis Post tenebras mundi quem tenet aula Poli c. Who this world darkness left to heav'n's Court 's gone Needs not our fruitless Lamentation That of Victorinus Abbot of Agaunum or St. Maurice de Chablais Contemporary with Esocius Nunc fruitur vultu quem cupiebat amor c. The Face which was the Object of his Love H 'as now the Bliss to see That of Hilarius the Priest Corpore qui terras tenet Astra Fide c. Whose Body Earth whose Faith the Skie contains That of Servilio Coelis gaudia vera tenet c. Raptus ab Orbe quidem laetus ad Astra redit c. He 's fill'd in Heav'n with certain Joys Snatch'd hence he joyfull to the Stars returns That of Praesidius Inter Angelicos fulget honore Choros c. Mong Quires of Angels he in honour shines c. That of Aegidius Nulli flendus erit quem Paradisus habet c. Whom Heav'n enjoys no man needs lament c. That of Basilius Patriam Coeli dulcis Amice tenes c. Of heav'n thy Countrey Friend thou art possess'd That of Avolus Gaudia Lucis habet Felix post Tumulos possidet ille Polos c. Luce perenè fruéns felix cui mortua mors est c. H enjoys the Joys of Light To Heav'n after death he blessed is transferr'd c. How happy he Who blest with light o're Death hath Victory That of Euphrasia the Wife of Namatius Bishop of Vienna deceased the seventeenth of November about the year 560. Inclyta Sydereo radias Euphrasia regno Nec mihi flenda manes nec tibi laeta places Terrae terra dedit sed Spiritus Astra recepit Pars jacet haec Tumulo pars tenet illa Polum c. Thou now Euphrasia shin'st in Heaven bright My grief no longer nor thy own delight Earth went to Earth the Stars her spirit have This part 's in Heav'n th' other in the Grave That of Vilithura the Wife of Dagulph Quae larga dedit haec modò plena metit c. What freely given was she fully reaps That of Queen Theodechilda the Daughter of Thierry King of Mets Son to the Great Clodoveus Felix cui meritis stat sine fine dies c. Happy whose Works eternal day attends That of Gelesventha second Wife of King Chilpericus the First Non hunc flere decet quam Paradisus habet c. T were ill the Blest in heaven to lament c. That of Eoladius of Nevers deceased about the year 570. Adventum gaudens sustinet hic Domini c. He glad expects the coming of the Lord. That of Pope Gregory the First deceased the 4th of March 604. Spiritus Astra petit c. Mercedem operum jam sine fine tenes c. His spirit to Heaven flies c. Thou of thy Works hast now thy endless Meed That of Vincent Abbot of Leon deceased the eleventh of March according to the Julian Period 668. or 630 after Christ Sua sacratenet anima coeleste His sacred Soul is in an heavenly Mansion c. Raptus ad aetherias subitò pervenit ad auras c. Snatch'd hence thou soon t' th' heav'nly parts
of both Sexes whereever resting in Christ that being freed from all their sins they may rejoyce with thee world without end And this O mercifull God receive this Hoast offered for the Souls of thy Servants of both Sexes whereever resting in Christ that delivered by this super-excellent Sacrifice out of the Chains of dreadfull death they may obtain eternal life And this O God whose property it is ever to have mercy and to forgive be favourable unto the Souls of thy Servants of both Sexes and pardon all their sins that being loosed from the Chains of Death they may obtain passage into life And this Free O Lord we beseech thee the Souls of thy Servants of both Sexes from all the bands of sin that being raised up among thy Saints and Elect they may live again in the glory of the Resurrection And this O Almighty and everlasting God who rulest as well over the living as the dead and shewest mercy unto all those whom thy fore-knowledge seeth will be thine in faith and good works we humbly beseech thee that those for whom we have appointed to pour out our Prayers and whom either this world does still detain in the flesh or the next hath already received uncloathed of the body may through the greatness of thy clemency be made worthy to obtain the forgiveness of all their sins and joy everlasting And this O Almighty and most mercifull God we humbly beseech thee that the Sacraments which we have received may purifie us and grant that this thy Sacrament be not unto us an obligation to punishment but a comfortable intercession for pardon that it be the cleansing of crimes that it be the strength of the fainting that it be a Bulwark against the dangers of the World that it be the remission of all the sins of the faithfull living and dead through Jesus Christ It might seem at the first sight that all these Prayers in general and every one in particular upon this very accompt that they speak of the forgiveness of sins for those who are departed this life do presuppose if not a Purgatory such as the Church of Rome hath imagined and described it some Ages since at least a certain necessity incumbent on the deceased to make satisfaction to the justice of God after their death But we must necessarily infer the contrary For not to take notice that to punish an evil doer is not to purge him if according to the tenour of the Prayers contained in the Mass of the Dead God forgives the sin of the deceased he does not require he should be punished for it if he loose the Chains he suffers him not to be still bound thereby if he exercises towards him his mercy through Jesus Christ he does not execute against him the rigour of his Justice such as it is conceived is felt by the Souls which they pretend are to pass through the fire of Purgatory Whence it follows that the design of those prayers which desire of God the effect of his mercy in the remission of their sins whom he hath called hence never was nor could be to procure their deliverance out of the torment which they are imagined at this day to suffer and whoever would finde the true meaning thereof is to reflect on the perswasions of those who were the first Authours thereof for they held that all those of whom they made a Commemoration were in as much as they were dead in the Lord gathered by him into Abraham's Bosom where they rested in a sleep of peace as it is expresly set down in the Memento So that no man well-informed prayed for them as for wretched Criminals and such as are deprived of the felicity which God hath prepared for his Saints but as for Champions already triumphant and glorious And yet out of a consideration that the perpetuity of the bliss into which every one presupposed them introduced proceeded from the continuation of the mercy according to which God had at first bestowed it and that it comprehended in it self the ratification of the pardon once granted to the deceased in pursuance whereof they were entred into and continued in the possession of celestial peace and joy the surviving thought fit to desire on their behalf mercy and remission of sins not absolutely as if they were still under the weight of God's wrath but upon a certain accompt to wit in as much as it is necessary that even in Heaven the mercy of God should be perpetually communicated to those whom it had already visited incessantly assuring them of the free gift he had made them first of his grace and afterwards of his glory as believing that those who enjoy so great a happiness are nevertheless to expect a more solemn sentence of Remission and Absolution in that great Day whereof we are all obliged both for our selves and on the behalf of our Brethren living upon Earth and reigning in Heaven to desire the blessed coming In this sence indeed the Antients never made any difficulty to desire on the behalf of the Blessed in Heaven the Pardon they had already obtained in as much as they were to obtain it again after a more glorious manner at the Day of Judgment whereto are particularly referred many of their Prayers As for instance that which we have already cited wherein they desire that their Souls freed from all the Bands of sin may be raised up again among the Saints in the Glory of the Resurrection And again thus Non intres c. Enter not into Judgment with tthy servant O Lord for in thy sight shal no man be justified unless thou grantest him the remission of all his sins We beseech therefore that the Sentence of thy Judgment may not lie heavy on him whom the sincere supplication of Christian Faith recommends but grant that he who while he lived was signed with the Sign of the blessed Trinity may by the assistance of thy Grace avoid the Judgment of Vengeance Again Oremus Fratres charissimi c. Let us pray dear Brethren for the spirit of our Brother whom the Lord God hath been pleased to deliver out of the snares of this world whose body is this day put into the Ground that the Lord would out of his goodness vouchsafe to place him in the Bosom of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that when the day of Judgment comes he may be placed among the Saints and Elect raised up again on the right hand And this taken out of the Ceremonial Deus cui omnia vivunt c. O God to whom all things live and to whom our bodies though they die perish not but are changed for the better we humbly beseech thee that thou command that the soul of thy servant N. be carried into the bosom of the Patriarch Abraham by the hands of thy holy Angels to be raised up again the last day of the great Judgment that what imperfections soever it hath through the deceit of the Devil
place in the bosoms of thy Patriarchs her for whose sake thou mercifully didst descend upon Earth In the later it is said Be mindfull of him O Lord in the glory of thy brightness let the Heavens be open to him let the Angels rejoyce with him Lord receive thy Servant into thy Kingdom Let St. Michael the Arch-angel of God and General of the Celestial Militia entertain him let the holy Angels of God meet him and carry him into the Heavenly Jerusalem c. Loosed from the Chains of flesh may he be received into the glory of the celestial Kingdom c. If after all these Prayers the Agony continue there are at several times read the one hundred and sixth and one hundred and eighteenth Psalms according to the Greeks and Latines that is the one hundred and seventh and one hundred and nineteenth according to the Hebrews who are therein followed by the Protestants and when the Soul is departed they say Afford your assistance O ye Saints of God meet him O ye Angels of the Lord receiving his Soul and presenting it to the most high May Christ who hath called thee entertain thee and may the Angels conduct thee into the Bosom of Abraham c. O Lord give him eternal rest and let everlasting light shine upon him Lord deliver his Soul from the Gate of Hell let him rest in peace In the Mass for the sick who are in Agony besides two Lessons out of the Scripture whereof the former comprehends from the sixth Verse of the five and fiftieth Chapter of Isaiah to the twelfth with these words fastened in the beginning by I know not whom In diebus illis locutus est Esaias Propheta dicens and at the end Ait Dominus omnipotens and the later consists of the twentieth twenty first and twenty second Verses of the sixteenth Chapter of St. John with these words added at the beginning In illo tempore dixit Jesus Discipulis suis We have several Texts alledged containing Thanksgiving to God for his deliverances as the second sixth and seventh Verses of the eighteenth Psalm according to the Hebrews the fourth of the fifty seventh with Confessions of sins and Implorations of his mercy and assistance as the second Verse of the fifty seventh Psalm the first and second of the one hundred and thirtieth the eighth and ninth of the seventy ninth the first of the fifty first and the two and twentieth of the five and twentieth and in conclusion three Prayers in the first whereof we read these words Grant him O Lord thy grace that his Soul at the hour of its departure out of the body may be represented without the blemish of any sin by the hands of the holy Angels to thee who art the proper bestower thereof through our Lord c. The second is closed with this conclusion not much unlike the former That received by the Angels he may arrive at the Kingdom of thy glory through our Lord. And the third is laid down in these Terms O Lord we give thee thanks for thy manifold kindnesses wherewith thou art wont to satisfie the Souls of those who put their trust in thee we now confident of thy compassion do humbly beseech thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe to shew mercy on thy Servant lest at the hour of his departure out of the body the enemy prevail against him but that he may be thought worthy to pass to life through our Lord. If the Latine Church had from the beginning been imbued with this Sentiment that the Souls of the Faithfull are for the most part at their departure out of the Body confined to a place of Torment where they perfect the expiation of their sins through what misfortune is it come to pass that she so far forgot her self as not to have expressed any such thing in all their Service and that her Encouragements and Remonstrances to those that lie at the point of death who are as it is at this day presupposed in so great a necessity to prepare themselves for it and the Wishes and Prayers which she makes and appoints to be made as well for them as for the Dead whom a Superstitious perswasion imagines already set upon and invaded by Infernal flames in Purgatory do not onely not contain any remark thereof but formally teach the contrary And that they do so we are onely to instance out of what hath been newly alledged what they say of all without exception viz. that after death they have their place in Holy Sion that the Angels come to meet them that they convey them into the Kingdom of Glory into the bosom of a blessed Rest into the bosom of Abraham into the pleasant Verdures of Paradise that they might with the Quires of the Blessed contemplate Truth with their blessed eyes and enjoy the sweetness of divine contemplation eternally that the Lord places them in the Portion of the Elect in the place where they hoped for salvation opens the heavens to them gives them an eternal Rest and makes them pass into life which Expressions are such as that the Protestants could not according to the Hypotheses of their Belief either say or think any thing beyond them Shall we imagine her unfortunately seised by a Vertigo so extraordinary as that she would be guilty of such an Extravagance in favour of the Adversaries of her Sentiment so far as to furnish them with all the Expressions capable to ruine it and that she should be so unnatural and cruel towards those of her children whom death snatched away daily from her as not to vouchsafe to let them know by the last word that she had a Resentment of their Trouble or that it was her desire to procure their Deliverance out of it by her Prayers and to fortifie others whom she saw to fall into the like by communicating to them her Advertisements and Remonstrances and representing to them on the one side the necessity which the Justice of God imposed on them as is pretended to pass through the Fire and on the other the Hope which his Promise gave them to be preserved therein by his care till such time as his Goodness should grant them a glorious deliverance out of it Nay though we should be inclined to excuse in her so shamefull a want of compassion and memory could we free her from Prevarication charging her that instead of stirring up in her children the care of preparing themselves for Death and the temporal Pains which according to the Opinion of Purgatory were to follow upon it she hath treacherously permitted that to be rid of it with more ease they should run into erroneous perswasions and presume to promise themselves upon the very start out of this Life a passage into Abraham's Bosom and the Paradise of God or rather that she was resolved to lay them asleep her self by deceitfull Expressions in the Bosom of a prejudicial Security which smothers the apprehension they should have conceived of the Severity of that
John vi 31. concerning the Bread of heaven and Apocal. ii 17. concerning the Hidden Manna tells us in his Preface copied out by Theophilus of Antioch and Lactantius that Those who honour God inherit the true and eternal Life that is to say the time of Eternity having their abode in Paradise the flourishing Garden and eating the delicious Bread of heaven which at the end of the seventh Book page 56. he means of Manna saying All together eat of the bedewing Manna with their white Teeth This Doctrine was so much the more acceptable to the Fathers the more they thought themselves obliged to conceive an aversion for the extravagant Imagination of the Gnosticks who transformed Paradise into an Archangel and assigned for its station the fourth Heaven Thus Theophilus who gave Paradise the qualification of perpetual and hanging in the midst between heaven and the world grounded the perswasion he would give of it to Autolycus on the Authority of the pretended Sibyl and after his Example Lactantius in the twelfth Chapter of his second Book St. Irenaeus having in the thirty sixth Chapter of his fifth Book alledged these words of Esay out of the two and twentieth Verse of the sixty sixth Chapter As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me assigns to each of them its Inhabitants saying Then shall those who are worthy the conversation of heaven pass thither others shall enjoy the pleasures of Paradise and others shall possess the Holy earth and the splendour of the City that is to say Jerusalem Tertullian in the fourty seventh Chapter of his Apologetick We know Paradise to be a place of Divine pleasure destined for the reception of the spirits of the Saints and separated from the knowledg of the common world by a certain inclosure of that fiery Zone And in the eighth Chapter of his Poem of the Last Judgment There is a place in the Eastern Parts wherein the Lord takes great deligâ—… where there is a clear Light c. it is a Region most rich in Fields c. thither comes every godly man But in the fifty fifth Chapter of his Book Of the Soul this Great man dazled by the delusions of the Montanists moderates the Opinion he had taken out of the Books of the Counterfeit Sibyl and reserving Paradise for the entertainment of the Martyrs onely excludes out of it all the rest of the Faithfull saying You say that our Sleep that is to say the place of our Repose is in Paradise whither the Patriarchs and Prophets upon the Resurrection of our Lord being Appendages thereof passed from Hell but how comes it that that Region of Paradise which is under the Altar revealed to St. John discovered no Souls but those of the Martyrs How came Perpetua that most couragious Martyr in the Revelation which was made to her of Paradise not long before her Suffering to see there onely her companions in Martyrdom but that the Sword which keeps the Entrance of Paradise suffers none to get in but those who are departed in Christ not in Adam Saint Cyprian after the Example of his Master Tertullian speaking of our Lord to Demetrian Proconsul of Africk a passionate Enemy of Christianity hath this expression He opens to us the way of Life he is the Authour of our return into Paradise And in his Book Of Mortality towards the end We account Paradise saith he to be our Country we have already begun to have for our Fathers the Patriarchs And in the Chapter of Exhortation to Martyrdom If it be glorious for the Souldiers engaged in common Wars after the Conquest of their Enemies to return Triumphant into their Country how much a nobler and greater Glory is it to return Triumphant to Paradise after we have overcome the Devil and to carry away victorious Trophies after we have subdued him who had foiled us before to the place whence the Sinner Adam had been thrust out Lactantius in the place above cited God having pronounced his Sentence against Sinners that every one should work out his own livelihood cast man out of Paradise and encompassed Paradise round about with Fire that man might not approach it till he had exercised sovereign Judgment upon Earth and recalled to the same place those Just men that worshipped him Death being taken away Saint Athanasius in his Treatise upon these Words Matth. xii 27. All things are given to me c. Death prevailed from Adam to Christ the Earth was cursed and Hell opened and Paradise shut c. But assoon as all things were given to him and that he was made man all was amended and accomplished The Earth in stead of the Curse it lay under before was blessed and Paradise opened and Hell daunted And in his Exposition of Faith Christ shewed the entrance into Paradise whence Adam had been thrust out and into which he is again entred by the Thief according to what our Saviour said This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise whither Paul also is entred Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in his Mystagogical Instruction The Paradise of God which he had planted towards the East is open to thee whence our first Parent was banished because of his Transgression And this is signified by thy turning from the West to the East the place of Light Saint Basil in his Treatise Of Paradise How shall I be able to bring thee into sight of thy Country to the end thou mayst recall thy self from banishment c. If thou art carnal thou hast the description of him that is corporal And in the seven and twentieth Chapter of his Book Of the Holy Ghost We all in our Prayers look towards the East but there are few of us that know we thereby seek our antient Country that is to say the Paradise which God planted in Eden Saint Gregory of Nyssa in his Oration of the fourty Martyrs That then which is demanded is Whether Paradise because of the Turning Sword is also inaccessible to the Saints and If the Champions of Christ are excluded Paradise what Promise there remains upon which they should undertake Combats for Piety and whether they should obtain less then the Thief to whom the Lord said This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise though the Thief came not voluntarily to the Cross but when he was come near Salvation that Eagle-sighted and generous Thief saw the Treasure and finding an opportunity stole Life honourably and happily abusing the nature of Theft and saying Lord have me in remembrance when thou comest into thy Kingdom He was honoured with Paradise and does the Flaming Sword keep the entrance of Paradise against the Saints But the Question resolves it self For thence it is that the Word hath not represented the Sword always placed against those that enter but Turning that it might be opposite to the unworthy and be behinde the worthy opening unto them the not-forbidden entrance of Life into which those that is to say
the Tree were for the healing of the Nations The same Imagination so gained upon the holy Fathers that lived after the middle of the second Age that those good Souls prepossessed by the Opinion they had conceived of the pretended Sibylline Writing took literally and apprehended after the Jewish sence whatever they met with in Esay and Saint John concerning the First Raesurrection of those who died for the Testimony of Jesus their reign of a thousand years and all the glory of the celestial Jerusalem Thus Justin Martyr in his Dialogue against Trypho answering that Jew who page 306 had asked him Whether he acknowledged that Jerusalem should be rebuilt and the Christians assemble there and rejoyce with Christ in the company of the Patriarchs Prophets c. not onely confesses it but maintains further that he had already averred it reflecting no doubt on those words of page 271. where he saith that Christ being raised should come again inâ—â— Jerusalem and then drink anew and eat with his Disciples And secondly that he had signified unto him that Many among those who were not of the pure and religious sentiment of the Christians acknowledged it not whereupon he adds I and as many others as are of the right and truly Christian sentiment in all things know that there must be a Resurrection of the Flesh and the Prophets Ezechiel Esay and others confess that after Jerusalem shall be built adorned and amplified a thousand years shall be spent there alledging to that purpose the sixty fifth Chapter of Esay and the twentieth of the Apocalyps And reinculcating it page 340. where he says He viz. Jesus is the eternal Light which is to shine in Jerusalem and page 369. where he writes of the Christians that they know with whom Christ they shall be in that Land viz. Judaea which he had called the Land of all the Saints and that they shall inherit eternal and incorruptible goods Eusebius in the nine and thirtieth Chapter of the third Book of his Ecclefiastical History attributing the same opinion to Papias Bishop of Hierapolis who had been a follower of the Disciples of Saint John hath this Discourse He affirms also many other things that are more fabulous among which he saith that there are a certain thousand of years to pass after the Resurrection and that Christ shall reign corporally in the same Land Things which I think he hath onely imagined upon a misapprehension of the Apostolical Expositions Saint Irenaeus in the thirty fifth Chapter of his fifth Book does not onely agree with Papias but relyes upon his authority citing out of his fourth Book these words which Papias attributed to Saint John The daies shall come wherein there shall grow up Vines having each of them ten thousand Branches and upon every Branch ten thousand Boughs and on every Bough ten thousand Buds and on every Bud ten thousand Bunches and on every Bunch ten thousand Grapes and every Grape pressed shall yield twenty five Measures of Wine And when any one of the Saints shall take one of the Grapes another shall cry I am a better Grape take me and bless God by me In like manner one Corn of Wheat shall bring forth ten thousand Ears and every Ear shall have ten thousand Crains and every Grain shall give ten Pounds of clear and fine Flower and all other Fruits Seeds and Herbs proportionably Was ever the Synagogue cut off from the Covenant of God delivered of an Extravagance more deserving contempt then this which feigns Bunches of Grapes speaking and Vines yielding infinitely beyond all imaginable force of Nature millions of millions of measures of Wine And yet the Holy Martyr Saint Irenaeus out of an excess of respect by no means excusable in him preferring the authority of Papias deceived by the counterfeit Sibyl before all reason blindly swallowed it and in his two and thirtieth Chapter inferred from it that The Just shall reign here below before the day of Judgment that on the day of the Sabbath of the Just they shall have a Table furnished from God who shall replenish them with all manner of Viands That The Wolves shall feed with the Lambs and the Lyon shall live on Straw and in the thirty fifth Chapter that The Just shall reign on earth in the thirty sixth that proportionably to the fruit they have brought forth an hundred sixty or thirty for one they shall be placed either in Heaven or in Paradise or in Jerusalem and that In that regard it was that the Son of God said In my Father's House are many Mansions Tertullian who lived near the same time to shew us that he was carryed away with the same Prejudice cryes out in the twenty fourth Chapter of his third Book Against Marcion We confess that the Kingdom is promised us upon Earth for a thousand years after the Resurrection in the City of Divine workmanship Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven There is some ground to think that Meliton Bishop of Sardes Contemporary with Justin Martyr was of the same Opinion with him concerning the temporal Reign of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem in asmuch as to maintain it he writ upon the Revelation of Saint John the words whereof have been extreamly wrested by the Patrones of that Imagination but in regard I am nothing pressed and have onely Conjecture to inferr it from I shall forbear to urge it I come to Nepos the Aegyptian Bishop reverenced by Dionysius of Alexandria for his Faith and great Learning in the attainment whereof he had spent himself to the Last Of this Prelate Eusebius saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Teaching that the Promises made to the Saints in the Holy Scriptures were to be accomplished after the manner conceived by the Jews supposing that there were to pass a certain thousand of Years in the pursuit of corporal Enjoyments upon Earth and being of opinion he might confirm his Supposition by the Revelation of John He writ concerning the said Revelation a certain Discourse entituled A Reprehension of the Allegorists as not able to endure that men should take otherwise then Literally the Promises proposed by the Holy Spirit for the comfort of the Church nor that they should be understood mystically About fifty years after appeared our Victorinus Bishop of Poictiers who suffered Martyrdom on the second day of November in the year 303. after he had composed divers Treatises great indeed in respect of the sense and slight in respect of the contexture of the Words according to the observation of Saint Hierome which cannot be contradicted since there is nothing left of them and that the Commentary upon the Apocalyps which goeth under his name contains at this day nothing of what the Antients had read in it But Saint Hierome assuring us that he was of the number of those who expected to come from Heaven a Jerusalem adorned with precious Stones and Gold we need not fear upon his Affirmation to
Beatitude writing in the nine and twentieth Homily upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Without the flesh the soul shall not receive those unspeakable goods in like manner shall she not also be punished c. If the body be not raised again the soul remains uncrowned deprived of that Beatitude which is in the Heavens c. And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. You also think what and how great a thing it is that Abraham and the Apostle Paul should sit down till such time as thou shalt be accomplished to the end that then they might receive their reward for if we also are not arrived the Saviour hath foretold that he would not give it c. What shall Abel do who overcame first of all and is sate down without being Crowned Thirdly From what is said by Prudentius who speaking of the Martyrs of Saragossa seems to deny their Souls admission into Heaven saying Sub Altari sita sempiterno turba c. The company seated under the Eternal Altar To which may be added that St. Augustine not content to have said That after this life ended we shall not be there where the Saints shall be as if he could not have designed by its proper Name the place of the Soul's habitation is forced in several places to make use of the most general Term of all viz. that of Receptacles And to that that of Paulinus who in his Epitaph upon Clarus as if he knew not where to assign him Entertainment makes this Discourse to him Sive Patrum sinibus recubas Dominive sub ara Conderis aut sacro pasceris in nemore Qualibet in regione Poli situs aut Paradisi Clare sub aeternâ pace quietus agis c. Whether in th' Patriarch's Bosom thou remain Or under the Lord's Altar art detain d Or an Aboad i' th' sacred Grove hast gain'd What part or place of Paradise thou hast got Clarus eternal Peace and Rest's thy Lot But all this is not enough to induce me to subscribe to the disadvantageous Censure given by Stapleton who not making any distinction of either Times or Persons or Expressions durst attribute to all Antiquity what the Authour of the pretended Sibylline Writing had perswaded those who had first consulted it Nor do I see that from the places above cited it may rigorously be inferred that the Fathers out of whose Writings they are extracted delayed the Beatitude of the Saints till after the Day of Judgment For though the words of Sain◠Ambrose seem to bear that they expect their Happiness with uncertainty and doubtfully yet he neither understood nor could have understood it so since that in the second of the places objected to him he writes that the Soul of the Faithfull Person departed Non busto tenetur sed quiete piâ fungitur c. is not detained upon the Funeral Pile where the Body had been consumed but enjoys a pious Rest His design then as it was also St. Chrysostom's who means by the Bosom of the Fathers the Kingdom of Heaven was to have it understood that the supreme Happiness and absolute accomplishment of the glory of the Saints departed was to be a Consequence of the Resurrection and Last Judgment at which time the souls already in Glory shall receive their true Crowns in the remuneration promised to compleat Persons whereof they before made the principal part and that in expectation of the Judgment which shall fully consummate their Glory they remain in suspense not as uncertain of the effect it shall produce but as ignorant of the time when it shall please God that so admirable an Event shall come to pass So that his particular Judgment reaches no further then that the souls freed from their bodies are transmitted to Hell but simply supposes that as to the Heathen it was enough to say so much As for Prudentius and Paulinus their conception of the Eternal Altar is not after a gross but after a refined and mystical manner Prudentius saying of the blessed souls that they shall rest in the Bosom of the blessed Old man where Lazarus is and in Paradise And Paulinus expressly declaring of Clarus Libera corporeo mens carcere gaudet in Astris Pura probatorum sedem sortita piorum c. Spiritus aethere gaudet Discipulúmque pari sociat super astra Magistro c. Among the Just his Habitation is Of Body freed possess'd of Heav'nly Bliss c. His soul to Heav'n is gone The Scholar to the Master 's equal grown So that according to these two Authours to rest under the Eternal Altar in the Bosom of Abraham in Paradise in Heaven above the Stars is one and the same thing as to the effect and design though by divers expressions the Beatitude and Glory of the children of God as well in general as in particular CHAP. XXXIV The Uniformity of the Sentiment of the Fathers and of the Protestants I Add that most of the Fathers who lived after Tertullian what Expressions soever they may make use of were of a Sentiment consonant to what is at the present held by the Protestants and firmly maintained that all the Souls of those of whose Names there was a Commemoration made in the Service of the Church were at the very hour of their death conveyed to the enjoyment of their Rest and Glory Hence was it that St. Cyprian even in the year 252. resolutely pronounces De istis mundi turbinibus extracti c. Having escaped the Tempests of this World we make towards the secure Haven of an eternal Mansion c. We are not to put on Mourning-Garments here when they there have already put on their White Robes c. It is not a departure but a passage and the Temporal journey being at an end a transportation towards the things That are Eternal c. Let us embrace the day which assigns to every one his own Mansion which restores us taken away hence and disingaged from the snares of this World to Paradise and the celestial Kingdom c. Again Lucrum maximum c. exemptum pressuris-urgentibus venenatis Diaboli faucibus liberatum ad laetitiam salutis aeternae Christo vocante prosicisci c. It is an exceeding great advantage c. to go Christ calling us to the Joys of Eternal Salvation after we are freed from those pressures which lie heavy upon us and delivered from the poisonous jaws of the Devil To the same effect Origene about fifteen years before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We hope to be above the Heavens after the Combats and Troubles which we have run through here St. Basil in the following Age about the year 370. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An eternal Rest is proposed to those who shall have lawfully maintained the Combat of the Life which is here St. Gregory Nazianzene in his tenth Oration pronounced about the year 369. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Heaven To the same sense was that of Alexander the Martyr burnt at Rome on the tenth of July for the Testimony of Christ Alexander mortuus non est sed vivit super Astra corpus in hoc Tumulo quiescit Vitam explevit cum Antonino Imp. quiubi multum beneficii antevenire praevideret pro gratia o'dium reddit genua enim flectens vero Deo sacrificaturus ad supplicia ducitur O témpora infausta quibus inter sacra vota nè in cavernis quidem salvari possimus Quid miserius vita sed quid miserius in Morte cùm ab Amicis Parentibus sepeliri nequeamus Tandem in Coelo corruscat parùm vixit iv x. tem ........ Alexander is not dead but lives above the Stars and his Body rests in this Tomb. He ended his life with the Emperour Antoninus who foreseeing that much good was to happen to him returns him Hatred instead of Favour For when he had bent his Knees to sacrifice to the true God he is led to punishment O unhappy times wherein among sacred Exercises and Devotions we cannot be safe not even in Caverns What more miserable then Life but is there any thing more miserable in Death then that we cannot be buried by our Friends and Kindred At length he shines in heaven he hath lived but a short time c. That of Mala Requiescit in somno pacis c. accepta apud Deum c. She rests in a sleep of peace c. received near God That of Marius Innocentius In pace Deidormit c. He sleeps in the Peace of the Lord. That of Paulina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She lies in the place of the Blessed That of Florentius Requiem accepit in Deo Patre nostro Christo ejus c. He is at rest in God our Father and his Christ That of Lucius Deo Sancto unite cum pace c. Thou united to the Holy God with peace That of Leo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is Victoriour That of Receptus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He goes before in peace That of Jovinus Locus Sallii Pontii Jovini in Christo c. The place of Sallius Pontius Jovinus in Christ Having thus heard the Judgment of Pious Antiquity concerning the State of the Faithfull departed and learn'd of it that they go to God that they are and go before in peace that they are and sleep in the peace of the Lord that they are received to the Lord and united to him with peace that they are in the place of the Blessed that they rest in eternal peace and in heaven as Conquerours which is confirmed by the Figures of Crowns Palms and the Dove bringing to Noë the Olive-branch the Symbol of the peace of God graved upon most of the antient Tombs who can without renouncing common sence and opposing the Testimony of his own eys which read these words and see these Symbolical Pourtraitures upon the Monuments where words are wanting imagine that the Epitaphs whereby the Deceased are said to be in peace c. in peace signifie onely that they died not under Excommunication and not that they are as Combatants retired out of the Field happy and triumphant in Celestical Glory CHAP. XL. The same deduced from larger Epitaphs WE have not any Epitaph in Verse of more Antient Date then the Papacy of Damasus by whose Hand the first we have were written but we may confidently affirm that even those and almost all that have been composed from the year 384. in which that Prelate ended his Life to the year 900. constantly presuppose the Beatitude and Glory of those to whose Memory they were Dedicated Thus that of Irene Sister to the said Pope Quum sibi eam raperet melior tunc Regia Coeli Non timui mortem Coelos quòd libera adiret Sed dolui fateor consortia perdere vitae c. Now that 〈◊〉 a better place she 's snatch'd her death I grieve not since to heav'n she 's freely gone But that I 've lost her conversation Is my regret That of Projecta deceased the thirtieth of December under the Consulship of Merobaudes and Saturninus in the year 383. Ex oculis Flori Genitoris abivit Aetheream cupiens Coeli conscendere lucem c. Sâ—â— vanish'd from her Father's sight Greedy to go to heav'ns aethereal Light That of Tigris Deacon of the Romane Church Quaeris Plebs sancta redemptum Levitam subitò rapuit sibi Regia Coeli c. Nunc Paradisus habet sumpsit qui ex hoste Trophaea c. Do you the redeemed Levite seek Heav'n's Court hath snatch'd him hence Who Tropheys from the Enemy did wrest Of heav'n is now possest A manner of speaking used by Pope Damasus in the Epitaph of his sister Irene and of the Saints Martyrs of whom he says Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia Coeli c. To heav'n's Court high souls are carried hence And the conclusion of the whole Epigram is He who took Tropheys from the Enemy In Paradise enjoyes felicity That of Tigris the Priest Sedibus in propriis mens pura membra quiescunt Ista jacent Tumulo gaudet at illa Polo c. Promeruit superas laetior ire domos c. His Minde and Members sev'ral seats contain In Heaven that these in the Grave remain That of Marcellina Sister of St. Ambrose Te pia Virgo supernum Accipit Imperium placidaeque ad munera vitae Aeternum Christus pretium tibi destinat Aulae c. Te Virgo tuus transvexit ad aethera Sponsus c. To blessed Life and a Superual Throne The just reward of thy Devotion Does Christ receive thee Virgin c. Virgin to Heaven thy Spouse does thee transport That of Probus Praefect of the Praetorium Eximii resolutus in aetheris aequore tutum Curris iter c. Nunc propior Christo Sanctorum sede potitus Luce nova frueris Lux tibi Christus adest c. Renovatus habes perpetuam requiem Candida fuscatus nullâ velamina culpâ Et novus insuetis incola luminibus c. Vivit in aeternum Paradisi sede Beatus Qui nova decedens muneris aetherii Vestimenta tulit quo demigrante Belial Cessit ingemuit hic nihil esse suum c. Dilectae gremio raptus in astra Probae c. Vivit astra tenet c. Dissolv'd thou safely runst th' etherial Plain Near Christ thou of a blessed Seat possest Christ being thy light thou a new light enjoy'st c. Thou now renew'd perpetuall rest dost gain Thy snowy Robes of guilt admit no stain And of an unaocustom'd place thou art A new Inhabitant c. He ever-happy lives in Paradise Who carries hence Robes first had from the Skies At his departure Belial complies And grieves to find in him there 's nothing his c. In his lov'd Proba's Bosom hee 's receiv'd c. Possest of Heaven he lives That of Pope SIRICIUS deceased the 22th of February in the
art fled That of Pope Boniface the Fifth deceased the 25 th of October 625. Ad magni culmen honoris abit c. He 's gone of honour to th' accomplishment That of Pope Honorius deceased the twelfth of October 638. Aeternae luis Christo dignante perennes Cum Patribus sanctis posside jámque domos Thou who to ' th' holy Sires hast ta'ne thy flight Enjoy through Christ th' eternal Seats of Light That of Pope Benedict II. deceased the seventh of May 685. Percipe salvati praemia celsa gregis c. The high rewards of those are sav'd receive That of Ceadwalla King of the West-Saxons deceased the twentieth of April 689. Indict 2. Mente superna tenet Commutâsse magis sceptrorum Insignia credas Quem regnum Chrsti promeruisse vides c. His spirit in heaven soars Who to Christ's Throne is raised may be said But an exchange of Scepters to have made That of Theodore of Canterbury deceased the 19 th of September 690. Alma novae scandens felix consortia vitae Civibus Angelicis junctus in arce Poli c Advanc'd to a society of Bliss With Angel-Citizens h'in heaven is That of Wilfrid Arch-Bishop of York deceased October the 12 th 709. Gaudens coelestia regna petivit c. Rejoycing he to heav'n's gone That of Bede rsinamed Venerable deceased May 26th being Ascension-Day which argues his death to have happened in the year 735. Juni septenis viduatus carne Kalendis Angligena Angelicam commeruit Patriam c. May's twenty sixth of flesh uncloathed Bede Mongst Angels went to have a heav'nly meed That of Richard King of England deceased February the 7 th 750. Regnum tenet ipse Polorum c. Of heav'n's Kingdom he 's possess'd That of Fulrad Abbot of St. Denys deceased in the year 784. Credimus idcirco Coelo societur ut illis c. In heav'n we Believe him blest with their society That of Meginarius his Successour Post mortem meliùs vivit in arce Poli c. Death past he lives in heav'n a better life That of Arichis Duke of Beneventum deceased the six and twentieth of August 787. Te pro meritis nunc Paradisus habet c. For thy good Works heaven is thy reward That of Tilpin Arch-Bishop of Rheims deceased the second of September 789. Mortua quando fuit mors sibi vita maner c. When Death is dead Life his Portion is That of Pope Adrian the First deceased the 26th of December 795. Mors janua vitae Sed melioris erat Death was the entrance of a better Life That of Peter Bishop of Pavia deceased about the same time Admistus gaudet caetibus Angelicis c. Retinent te gaudia Coeli c. Rejoycing among Angels he Heav'n's joys thy entertainment are That of Hildegard first Wife of Charle-maign deceased in the year 783. April the thirtieth Pro dignis factis sacra regna tenes Thy worthy acts the sacred Kingdom gain'd That of Fastrada second Wife of the same Prince deceased in the year 794. Modò Coelesti nobilior Thalamo c. A heav'nly bed makes her more Noble That of Count Gerald deceased in the year 799. Sideribus animam dedit He rendred his Soul to heaven That of Hildegard Daughter by his first Wife Tu nimium felix gaudia longa petis c. Thou ever-happy to long Joys dost go That of Charle-maign himself deceased on Saturday the eighth of January 814. Meruit fervida saec'li Aetherei c. Aequora transire placidum conscendere portum c. That of Adelbard Abbot of St. Peter of Corbie deceased the second of January 822. Paradisi jure colonis c. Inhabitant of Pardise That of Ermengard Wife to the Emperour Lotharius deceased the twentieth of March being Good-Friday in the year 852. Linquens regna soli penetravit regna Polorum Cum Christo sanctis gaudia vera tenens c. Leaving Earth's Crowns to those of Heav'n she 's gone With Christ and 's Saints in exultation That of Lewis the Debonnaire who died on Sunday the twentieth of June 840. In pacis metas colligit hunc pietas c. Him Piety brings into the land of Peace That of Dreux Bishop of Mets deceased the eighth of November 857. Spiritus in requie laetus ovat Abrahae c. The joyfull spirit exults in Abra'm's Rest That of the Emperour Lewis the Second deceased the thirteenth of August 875. Gaudet Spiritus in Coelis Corporis extat honos c. The Body's honour is Apparent but the spirit 's in heave'nly bliss That of the Emperour Carolus Calvus deceased the sixth of October 877. Spiritum reddidit ille Deo c. He to God his Spirit return'd That of Ansegisus Arch-Bishop of Sens deceased the twenty fifth of November 883. Spiritus Astra tenet c. Of heav'n his Spirit 's possest That of John Scotus dead the same year Christi conscendere regnum Quo meruit sancti regnat per saecula cuncti c. He to ascend Christ's Kingdom did obtain Where all the Saints eternally do reign That of Pope John the Eighth deceased the fifteenth of December the year before Et nunc coelicolas cernit super Astra Phalanges c. Above the Skies Now he the heav'nly Batallions spyes That of Ermengard Daughter of Lewis King of Germany deceased the three and twentieth of December about the same time Bis denos octo vitae compleverat annos Migrans ad sponsum Virgo beata suum c. Twice eighteen years this Maid had liv'd compleat When happy she went hence her Spouse to meet That of Bruno Arch-Bishop of Cullen deceased the eleventh of October 969. Iam frueris Domino Thou now enjoy'st the Lord. That of Notger Abbot of St. Gal deceased the sixth of April 981. Idibus octonis hic carne solutus Aprilis Coelis invehitur c. Having laid down his fleshy burthen on The sixth of April he to heav'n is gone That of Gonzales cited by Prudentio de Sandoval Bishop of Pampeluna to the year of the Julian Period 1030. or of Christ 992. A qui reposa y en la gloria goza c. Here rests and glorious happiness enjoys That of Donna Sancia Dio fin glorioso a esta vida Par a gozar de la aeterna c. That she might gain eternal life in Bliss She gave a glorious Period unto this That of Sancia Countess of Castile Bis vinctum Comitem è carcere adduxit Coelicas sedes beata quae possidet c. She out of Prison twice her Count reliev'd To heav'nly Seats who happy now 's receiv'd That of Count Fernand of Gonzalva Belliger invictus ductus ad Astra fuit c. To heav'n th' undaunted Souldier was convey'd And Sebastian of Salamanca speaking of Ordonio the First places him in Heaven saying Felix stat in Coelo c. Laetatur cum sanctis Angelis in Coelestibus regnis c. He is happy in heaven
enquiry into the Motives which might have induced the Authours of those Epitaphs to insert into them Prayers for their departed Friends and to place their Tombs near those of the Martyrs who had sealed with their Blood the Truth of Christianity The most antient Epitaph we finde containing a mixture of Wishes and Prayers is that which St. Gregory Nazianzene writ in Honour of St. Basil deceased the twelfth of January in the year 378. where we read these Words concerning that Great Prelate gathered to his Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God give him Happiness as if he had not been in the actual possession thereof and as if St. Gregory had not expresly required of him before that he would appear for the World and offer gifts to God and that in consequence of his being in Heaven as he had desired Again That he had quitted his Episcopal See as Christ would have it that he might become one among the Inhabitants of Heaven It seems then he believed him in Heaven and possessed of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven as soon as he had at his departure out of this World quitted his Episcopal See and yet he desires that God would give him Happiness meaning that he would confirm and improve the gift he had already made him which hath nothing common with the Hypotheses maintained at this day by the Church of Rome In the year 395. deceased the Prefect PROBUS and his Epitaph which loudly published that he was in the Plains of Heaven seated among the Saints possessed of perpetual Rest that he lived crowned with bliss in the Everlasting Mansions of Paradise concludes with this Prayer Hunc tu Christe Choris jungas Coelestibus oro Te canat placidum jugiter aspiciat Quique tuo semper dilectus pendet ab ore Auxilium soboli conjugióque ferat Joyn'd with Celestial Quires O Christ may he Thy praises sing thy constant favour see Whō ever-lov'd did ev'r on thee depend May he to 's Race and Widow some help lend Shall we say he was in Heaven and yet not joyned with the Celestical Quires That he was in any danger to see his Saviour incensed and that he could be possessed of Paradise without Happiness If not it must needs be that the Authour of his Epitaph prayed that he might enjoy it without any diminution and be eternally in the Favour and Peace of his Saviour in the Society of the rest of the Blessed Saints which hath nothing common with what is now desired by the Church of Rome We have such another Desire made in the Epitaph of Pope BENEDICT Hic Benedictus adest meritò sub rupe Sepulchri Quem tenet Angelicus Chorus in arce Poli Aurea saec'la cui pateant sine fine per aevum Sorte beatificâ scandat ut aetheria c. Here Benedict justly beneath this Stone Is plac'd whom Angels in the Heav'ns enthrone To whom be golden Ages without end That he the Skies may ever-bless'd ascend For who sees not that he who is enthroned by Angels in Heaven must of necessity be there and stood not in need of ascending thither nor that any golden Ages should be desired for him But in as much as he was to ascend thither in his Body after the general Resurrection the Authour of the Epitaph makes a Wish to that purpose and requires that the Happiness which he was then possessed of as to his Spirit might be ever continued to him that he might be eternally filled with Joy as well in body as soul thereby discovering that he reflected not in the least on the Purgatery held by the Church of Rome which none of her Followers ever yet placed in Heaven or any way thought on the delay of Benedict's Felicity whom he esteemed already received into the Society of the Angels The same accompt is to be given of the Epitaph of Marinian Arch-Bishop of Ravenna deceased in the year 601. where we finde these words Ipsius in locis sit tibi certa quies c. Mayst thou with God assured rest obtain As also of that of Venerable Bede deceased in the year 735. Dona Christe animam in Coelis gaudere per aevum c. Dáque illum Sophiae inebriari fonte Christ grant his soul in heav'n eternal joy c. And him inebriate with Wisdom's spring For it does not thence follow either that he was at the hour of his death deprived of the Joy of Heaven or that Wisdom had not filled him with the Effects of her Virtue or lastly that those who are once entred into the Joy of Heaven could ever forfeit it or be deprived of the communication of eternal Wisdom but that the Surviving thought they might rationally demand for their deceased Friends the perpetuity of their Happiness though they certainly knew it could never be taken from them That of Pope ADRIAN the First writ either by Charle-maign or in his Name by Alcuin notwithstanding he had presupposed that his Death was the entrance of a better Life yet forbore not to make these Wishes for him Cum Christo teneas regna beata Poli c. Quique legis Versus devoto pectore supplex Amborum mitis dic miserere Deus Haec tua nunc requies teneat charissime membra Cum sanctis Anima gaudeat alma Dei Ultima quippe tuas donec Tuba clamet in aures Principe cum Petro Surge videre Deum Auditurus eris vocem scio Judicis almam Intra nunc Domini gaudia magna tui Tum memor esto tui Nati c. Mayst thou with Christ a blessed Seat obtain c. Who humbly readst this Verse with pious heart May God his mercy say to both impart May here the precious body finde it's Rest May the fair soul rejoyce among the blest Since when the latest Trump shall summon thee God and the great Saint Peter for to see I know thou 'lt hear the Judge's gentle voyce Of thy Lord enter into the great Joys Remember then thy Son Now as the demand he made for Adrian that he might obtain a blessed seat with Christ in Heaven did not signify that he was not yet admitted into the Possession of that better Life whereof his death was the entrance so the Invitation to implore for him the Mercy of God was no argument that he had not obtained it since that even then he exhorted his Soul to rejoyce with the Saints of God and shewed that he thought it not tormented in a Fire such as were likely to deprive it of all Joy but that it was in Bliss reigning in the Company of the Saints of the Apostle St. Peter and our Saviour a felicity whereto nothing could be added by desire but the perpetuity of it which yet is so much the more certain in as much as it is grounded on the unchangeable counsel of God whose Gifts and Calling are without repentance That of Charle-maign of whom the Authour viz. Agobard Arch-Bishop of Lions said That he
cunctipotens animae c. Pardon thy Soul he whom all things obey he takes him for an Intercessour as he in requital Prays for him saying Oramus pro te pro nobis quaesumus ora c. We pray for thee thou us thy Pray'rs afford And elsewhere he lays it down as certain that the one and twentieth of January the day of his Decease Destituit Mundo substituitque Polo Snatch'd him from hence to place him in the Skie which cannot stand without his being received into Heaven In those of Howel Bishop of Mans deceased in the year 1129. and of the Abbot Joel having said Morte pari modicò Deus attigit ambos Ut sint translati Sidera magna Poli c. In equal death God did them both conjoyn Translated hence in Heav'n great Stars to shine A Discourse representing them already possessed of Celestial Glory and and particularly of the former Coram Sancto Vota vovent Tumulo c. Before his Tomb their Vows they pour Whence it follows that they took him for their Patron and must of necessity think him in Happiness Yet does he nevertheless pray for him saying Praesulis obtineat Spiritus Astra Poli c. May Heav'n the Prelate's Soul obtain as if contrary to his precedent Protestations he had thought him at a great distance from it In those of Audebert Abbot of Bourg-dieux and Arch-Bishop of Bourges deceased in the year 1098. he is very liberal of his Wishes as Communem Patrem communi tangite voto Ut det Pastori sedem super aethera vestro Again Audeberte vale sit pax tibi lúxque perennis Again In Domino requiem Spiritus inveniat c. Omnipotens animam Pontificis foveat c. To th' common Father your joynt Vows address That he your Pastour bring to happiness c. Audebert be well Eternal peace and light Thy Portion be May's Soul in God finde rest Kindely may God the Prelate's soul receive Who hearing him talk after this rate would not say that he were out of Heaven deprived of light peace and rest But look upon the Reverse of the Medal and you shall finde he looks on him as his Patron already possessed of Heaven saying Tu Pater à Superis saepe revise tuos c. Vadis te Christo per idonea signa vocante Et velut emerito tibi praemia digna parante Omni momento nostrî Patrone memento Et succurre gregi mortali morte redempto Again Nunc quoque cum Christo nos saepè revisat ab alto Thou Father from on high revisit thine c. By Christ hence As a discharged Champion thou art Of great rewards call'd to receive thy Part O Patron ever-mindfull of us be And those relieve whom mortal death set free With Christ from Heav'n often revisit us What could he have said more to St. Peter or St. Paul according to the Theologie of that Time In that of William Bishop of Engoulesm having invited those of his Diocess to worship his Body he advises them to pray for him Artus venerare Paternos Dic quoque Transcendat Gulielmi Spiritus Astra Thy Father's body having worship'd pray That William's soul to Heav'n may finde the way What could have been more ridiculous then to have perswaded People to the Veneration of a Body whose Spirit should at the same time have been in a place of Pain and deprived of Glory In that of Gerald of Orleans he says Datur hîc sua portio Terrae Spiritus in tenues vivens elabitur auras Cui tamen è rebus lutulentis si quid inhaesit Expediat totum clemens miseratio Christi His Precibus Lector Amen adjiciendo faveto Here Earth hath had her share The Spirit lives dissolv'd to subtile Air Which yet if stain'd with ought terrestrial May Christ in his great Mercy pardon all T advance these Prayers Reader Amen let fall Since then he conceived that at the fall of the Body when it became the portion of the Earth the Spirit lived and was escaped who sees not that he believed it to be in some other place then that of a grievous punishment and that the Prayer he afterward makes tends rather to assure the Expiation of his Offences then to implore it for him in as much as the Mercy of God is not communicated after death but to those who obtained it while they lived In that of Durand Bishop of Cler-mont deceased the nineteenth of November 1095. during the time of the Councel or Croisado for the Conquest of the Holy Sepulchre was published he exhorts the People of Auvergn to worship him and thereby declares him to be in Happiness saying Arvernus sanctos cineres reverenter habeto Atque Patrocinio tutior esto suo Worship his sacred ashes Cler-mont and Thou shalt in his protection safer stand In those of Gerald Abbot of Selue Majour in Bourdelois he is yet more excessive as hath been observed in the precedent Chapter And though the Prayers he makes in the Epitaphs of his other Friends as Reynold Clere Guy Raoul Clerembant William of Mont-soreau Berenger Arch-Deacon of Anger 's Froden of Anger 's Peter Dean of Dol Reinould Canon of Poictiers Geoffrey of Rheims Alexander of Tours Eriland Peter Prior Eudes Abbot of St. John d'Angely Raoul Arch-Deacon of Poictiers Chevalier Bouchard Chevalier Rahier the Countess Osanna Guy Tourangeau William Abbot of Bourgueil and Herard of Loudun though I say those Prayers might presuppose the Belief of Purgatory yet since they are consistent with the other Presuppositions and that Baldric made the like for Persons whom he believed crowned with Glory in Heaven it cannot be safely concluded that he ever intended to apply any one of them to the common Opinion current in his Time and which the Church of Rome maintains at this day The same is to be said of those who after him and to this present have declared and do declare according to the Custom of the Church of Rome and even in her Communion that the Persons whose Memory they have celebrated by their Verses and Sepulchral Inscriptions are in Happiness and possessed of celestial Glory For though they do not openly impugn the Opinion of Purgatory as the Protestants do and though they use such Expressions as might seem to maintain it yet do they not oblige themselves to maintain it in Effect and without any injury done them it may be taken for certain that they believed no more of it then the Reverend Peter Chastellain Bishop of Mascon who having on the three and twentieth of May 1547. advanced into Glory the great King Francis and scandalized the College of Sorbonne which looked on his Discourse as a Piece of Lutheranism flatly contradicting the common Opinion of Purgatory and demanded of him either the formal Retractation or Explication of it thought it satisfaction enough to give the Complainers and that in the presence of King Henry the Second and all his Court a Jest instead of an Apologie
for his Funeral-Oration and to stop their Mouths tell them that he denied not he had been there but that it was onely to take a Glass of Wine as he passed by which Discourse was to them an absolute Put-off and caused them to be laughed at whereever they came CHAP. XLII Of the true Motives which the Antients had to Pray for the Blessed Saints in Heaven BUt not further to mention Baldric or the Bishop of Mascon it will be demanded what Motive enclined those who since the year 500. are found to have made Prayers for the Dead to do so And here I am willing to acknowleg that there was no more noise of the Opinion which had so much distracted the Spirits of Christians of the Second and Third Age deceived by the Pretended Sibylline Writing and presupposing that all Souls without exception descended to Hell were there confined till the Resurrection of their Bodies and exposed not onely to the temptations but also to the violences of Evil Spirits which to prove Justine Martyr alledged to Trypho the Jew the pretended raising of Samuel by the Witch of En-dor For though the most antient Prayers as for Instance those which St. Augustine made for his Mother seem to have been drawn up by that Precedent and that the Libera if it be applied to the Departed rather then to the Faithfull in Agonies and preparing themselves for death requires we should think they were yet had they even from the Time of Tertullian seventy years or thereabouts after the first coming abroad of the Sibylline Writing so called begun to exempt the Martyrs from the necessity of descending into Hell and so by little and little the minds of the Christians strugling with and overcoming the Imposture that first Hypothesis was cast out of doors yet so as that it was done without a rejection of the Forms which those who maintained it had introduced into the Publick Service of the Church And thence comes it that St. Ambrose prays for his Brother Satyrus saying Tibi nunc omnipotens Deus innoxiam commendo animam c. Now O Almighty God I recommend unto thee his innocent soul And for Valentinian the Second and Gratian in these words Hîc adhuc intercessionem c. Should I still make Intercession here for him to whom I dare promise a reward Put into my hands the sacred Mysteries let us with a devout affection demand rest for him give me the celestial Sacraments let us attend his religious soul with our Oblations Lift up your hands with me in the Sanctuary O ye People to the end at least that by this Present we may recompense his merits c. No night shall go over my head but that I will make you some present of my prayers in all my Visitations I shall remember you c. And for the Great Theodosius Praesumo de Domino c. I so far presume of the Lord that he will hear the voyce of my cry wherewith I attend thy pious soul c. Grant perfect rest unto thy servant Theodosius even that rest which thou hast prepared for thy Saints May his soul return thither whence it descended where he cannot feel the sting of death where he may be satisfied that this death is the end not of Nature but of sin c. From which Prayers it is to be observed by the way First That this Holy Prelate expressing that he considered not his prayers for Valentinian who died a Catechumen but a Person very Religious and truly inclined to Piety as an Office whereof he stood in need but as a simple Effect of his good Wishes manifestly discovers that not any one of the Faithfull departed in the Lord stands in any necessity of the suffrages of the surviving and accordingly that the Protestants who believe that in matter of Religion nothing should be attempted without the express order of God himself speaking in his Word cannot be accompted criminals for their declining an act which is not even in their Judgment who practised it of any necessity or any way beneficial to those for whom the voluntary devotion or Will-worship of men designs it Secondly That St. Ambrose who calls the Eucharist celebrated in memory of Valentinian and upon his occasion a Present which he makes his Friend and by which he requites him could not have believed it to be either the Body of the Son of God or the Offering-up of that Body or in general a Propitiatory Sacrifice properly so called For who could without an impious Absurdity imagine that the real Body of our Saviour should be so much at our disposal as that we might make Presents of it to our Friends c. that the Proper Oblation of the same Body being infinitely more precious then we or any thing that can proceed from us is or could be a supplement which we adjoyn to our Prayers for our Friends and that this kind of Present is as the meanest kindness we can do them so as that we might say with St. Ambrose that at least by that Present we requite them It seems then he pretended not to do what the Church of Rome thinks to do at this day in the Masses of Requiem For she professes to present the Oblation she makes therein whatever it may be not to the deceased for whom she prays but onely to God for or on the behalf of the deceased She conceives also that her Host which she believes to be properly and really the Body of the Son of God surpasses in value not onely our Prayers but what ever is most excellent either in Earth or in Heaven among the Angels and Spirits of the glorified Saints And though she who cannot endure the Protestants because they are unwilling to submit their Consciences to any other Rule then that of Faith contained in the Sacred Scriptures hath born in her Bosom and suffered unreproved those inconsiderate Children who have had the boldness to write that the solemn Sacrifice might be offered to Creatures As when the Authour of the great Chronicle of the Low-Countries thrust in this into his History that on the 27th of October 1467. Charles last Duke of Burgundy who conquered the People about Liege Ecclesiae Lovaniensis universo Clero commisit omnipotenti Deo suaeque sanctae Genitrici offerre suo nomine sacrificium c. gave express Order to all the Clergy of the Church of Lovain to offer unto Almighty God and to his most Holy Mother the solemn Sacrifice in his name never considering either that the Oblation of the solemn Sacrifice is by the confession of all the act of Latria and sovereign adoration due to God alone as being the most proper Object and most worthy of it nor that the most Holy Mother of our Lord though blessed according to the saying of the Angel among Women never ceased being a Creature and that she is such now in Heaven as much as she was before she was crowned with Glory or
every where that all Souls are produced by God at the very instant of their infusion into the Bodies they are to animate and that for as much as they were not at all before they were united to their Bodies they could not either be or sin in Heaven or consequently descend thence as St. Ambrose presupposed that which is not absolutely neither having before it is any Being nor pre-existing nor capable of either Action or Motion from one place to another or of any Passion any way conceivable by us But as to the main point it is manifest that St. Ambrose and all the Church of his Time had absolutely rejected the first Hypothesis derived from the pretended Sibylline Writing maintaining that all Souls without exception descend into Hell after their departure out of the Bodies wherewith they every one as to its own particular constituted humane Persons and that that other Branch of Errour which had prepossessed the Spirit of Justine Martyr and his Contemporaries whereby they imagined that the Souls of the greatest Saints during their pretended detention in Hell were in some sort subject to the power of Evil Spirits and upon that accompt stood in need of being relieved by the Prayers of the Living imploring on their behalf the Protection of God and his good Angels was no longer held it being the perswasion even of those who continued to make the same Prayers as they who had been of that Belief that the true Christians departing out of the Body were with the Lord in an eternal rest and absolute safety In so much that these who recommended the Dead to God grounded not their so doing on either of these two Motives St. Ambrose telling us plainly concerning Valentinian the Second Requiescamus inquit anima pia in Castellis ostendens illic esse quietem tutiorem quae septo Coelestis refugii munita atque vallata non exagitatur soecularium incursibus Bestiarum c. Let us rest says the Faithfull soul in Towers shewing that there where she is received there is a more assured Repose which being encompassed and fortified with the Enclosure of celestial refuge is not disturbed by the Incursions of the Beasts of this World that is to say Evil Spirits and Wicked Men. And concerning Theodosius Lapsum sentire non poterit in illa requie constitutits c. Being seated in that Rest he cannot be subject to fall from it And Paulinus not long before the Death of St. Ambrose to Pammachius concerning his Wife Paulina deceased in the year 396. Satis docuit Rex Propheta c. The Royal Prophet hath sufficiently taught us how far we should be troubled at the departure of our Friends and Kinred to wit so as rather to think of our Journey after them then of that which they are already come to the end of It is indeed an Expression of Piety to be cast down at the taking away hence of Just men but it is also an Holy thing to be raised up into Gladness upon the Hope and Faith of God's Promises and to say to him that it is in trouble Why art thou sad Be it so that Piety bewail for a time yet is it necessary that Faith should always be joyfull Upon this Ground was it that all those who for the space of six hundred years made it their Business to write the Lives of the Faithfull accompted them among the Blessed not admitting any adjournment of their Peace and Felicity after their death In so much as Gregory Arch-Bishop of Tours deceased the seventeenth of November 592. about which time Pope GREGORY first of that Name was designing the first-draught of Purgatory should not have spoken of those Virtuous Persons whose memory he celebrated in other Terms then those who had preceeded him saying of Gregory Bishop of Langres of Nicetius Bishop of Lyons of Porcianus Ursus and Caluppa Religious Men Migravit ad Dominum c. He is gone hence to the Lord of Gullus Bishop of Cler-mont of Nicetius Bishop of Trier and of Lupicinus Spiritum coelo intentum proemisit ad Dominum c. He sent before his Body to the Lord his Soul imployed in Thoughts of Heaven of Friard Christus animam suscepit in Coelo c. Christ hath received his soul into Heaven of Martius Ad Coronam commigravit c. He is gone hence to receive a Crown of Venantius Vitam percepturus aeternam emicuit saeculo c. He is hurried hence to receive eternal Life of Leobord Manifestum est eum ab Angelis susceptum c. It is manifest he hath been entertained by Angels In a word the great number of those who admire the Novelties that have crept into the Opinion of Purgatory hath been no hindrance but that the Authours of Lives who have written since the year 600. have spoken and believed of their Dead consonantly to what had been done by the most Antient. If therefore even in the Time of St. Ambrose the Opinion of the Millenaries was so lost to credit that St. Hierome who out of respect towards the Great Persons that had followed it forbore to express his Thoughts thereof and to number it among Heresies thought it a great Tenderness towards it to assign it a place among the dreaming Imaginations of mis-informed Spirits it is not to be conceived that after the year 500. descending still it should have regained any Partizans and that there should have been any man whose Prayers for his deceased Friends proceeded from that Motive so as that he thought himself obliged to wish them their part in the First Resurrection which no man then understood in the sense wherein Tertullian and those of his Time had conceived it But indeed many even till after the year 600. relying on that Hypothesis partly extracted out of the pretended Oracles of the Counterfeit Sibyl that All Souls should pass through the last Conflagration of the World demanded on the Behalf of their departed Friends two things One that they might pass through that great Conflagration as through a Purgative Fire not to be prejudiced thereby no more then the Gold melted in the Crucible Another that they might have their part with all the Saints in the Resurrection to Glory Upon this perswasion Kindasvind King of the West-Goths in Spain who reigned between the year 642. and 649. had caused these Verses to be written on the Tomb of his Wife Reciberga Ego te Conjux quia vincere fata nequivi Funere perfunctam Sanctis commendo tuendam Ut cùm Flamma vorax veniet comburere Terras Coetibus ipsorum meritò sociata resurgas Since death on my desires would not thee spare Of thee departed may the Saints take care That thou with them mayst rise again that day When of the Fire the Earth shall be the prey The First of these Demands hath lost much of that Consideration with those who have embraced the New Opinion of Purgatory which seemed to require the Example of the
Souls which the Church of Rome pretends to be so confined in her Purgatory that they cannot merit there much less be converted to God He takes for good the Testimony of Origene who believed not any Pains eternal and that of St. Gregory Nyssenus who was lightly led away into that Errour He summons in also Ephraim Deacon of Eâ—…a Diadochus Bishop or Photice Maximus and Oecumenius who speak of no other Fire then that of the last Conflagration Synesius Bishop of Ptolemais in Cyrenaica who Treats of the Pains inflicted by Devils and consequently of those of the damned Procopius of Gaza who proposing to us a Purgative Fire which the Seraphim brings from Heaven to Earth to sanctifie as well the Ministers of the Church as the sinners for whom they pray clearly discovers he never thought on the Romish Purgatory which does not sanctifie any one and which cannot be in Heaven for this very Reason that it is placed in Hell Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople who speaks of the Efficacy of our Saviour's Passion to deliver out of Limbus those whom Antiquity believed to have been there confined in expectation of his coming as also of the Purgatory of those who die daily says nothing to his purpose He makes great ostentation of a Fragment unjustly attributed to Theodoret which is not to be found any where in his Works of Gennadius Scholarius drawn into the Church of Rome's Party by the Caresses and kindnesses of Pope Eugenius the Fourth and of Zagazabo an Abyssine Bishop whom the Portuguez deceitfull Interpreters of his Sentiments made to say what they pleased directly contrary to the common Belief of his Countrey-men He further brings in the Depositions of that Impostour who had in the year 1595. taken upon him the Name of Gabriel Patriarch of the Cofti and who hath been since acknowledged by the Doctours of the Church of Rome to be what he was as also those of Hypatius Arch-Bishop of the Black-Russians who to comply with the King of Poland Father of the last-deceased had submitted to the Church of Rome and in consequence thereof had made such a profession of Faith as she desired he should In a word he shuffles together all he met with of one I know not what Eusebius of Alexandria unknown to Antiquity of Eusebius of Caesarea of the Arabian Canons of Timothy of Alexandria of St. Epiphanius of Palladius of John sirnamed Cassian of Justine Justinian and Leo the Wise Emperours of John sirnamed Climacus of Gregory the Priest of Leontius of Sophronius of Damascene of Anastasius of Simeon Metaphrastes of Constantine sirnamed Manasses of Nicetas of Nicholas Cabasilas of Athanasius of Constantinople of Nicephorus Gregoras of the Greeks deputed to the Councel of Basil of those who reside at Venice and of Jeremy Patriarch of Constantinople not omitting any of the Authours alleged by Cardinal Bellarmine and never minding whether from any one of the Testimonies he draws from this long Catalogue of Witnesses any thing more can be gathered then Prayer for the dead Then turning to the Latine Fathers and bringing in all those whom Cardinal Bellarmine had cited he produces over and above Arnobius who simply says that the Church prays for all both living and dead and Zeno of Verona blaming the VVidows who by their lamentations interrupt the prayers whereby the Souls of their deceased Husbands are recommended to God and shews even in that that he thought they no way deserved those lamentations which yet were but the just and necessary Effects of the compassion of the living if they presupposed with any certainty of their departed Friends that they burn in an Infernal Fire Besides all this he shuffles in the Depositions of Lactantius of Hilarius the Deacon of Eucherius of Lyons of Caesarius of Arles and of Boethius who speaks of the Conflagration of the World at the Last day of Prudentius who speaks of the Hell of the damned of Philip the Priest who Treats Of the Absolution and Remission of Sins which shall be solemnly given to every Believer at the Last day of St. Hilary of Poictiers who discourses Of the Tribulations of this Life of Bacchiarius who to confute those who made any difficulty to allow the peace of the Church to their Brethren that were fallen alledges the care which Saul's Concuhine had taken of the bodies of his children hanged upon occasion of the Gibeonites and that of Judas Maccabaeus for those of his Army who after their Death had been found seized of the prey taken in the Temple of Jamnia of Primasius and Faustus Religious Men of the Monastery of St. Maurus who are pleased to approve Prayers and Offerings for the dead and to give us good measure when we are to be cheated he cites us a Writing lately Fathered on Pope Sixtus the Third an Homily of the Lord's Supper stuffed with passages out of St. Hilary St. Hierome St. Augustine St. Prosper Isidore of Sevil Bede and Alcuin and consequently unjustly attributed to Saint Eloy deceased the first of December 663. before the birth of Bede who was more antient by Fifty years then Alcuin the Commentary which Sedulius not as he thinks the antient who writ the Opus Paschale but another of the same Nation dressed up since the year 700. out of the Writings and abundance of other Authours of later date whom I forbear to bring into the Accompt out of a consideration that in regard they lived since St. Gregory and have had a great Veneration for the Writings and Authority of that Renowned Prelate it may be they might have some Thoughts of the Purgatory whereof he was the first Founder when they writ what is alledged out of them though they contain not any formal mention thereof So that to make good the Protestant Cause against the Church of Rome it is sufficient if I maintain First That she hath nothing expresly affirmed on the behalf of her Purgatory among the Latines before Gregory the First Secondly That that onely reflection may give the more simple light enough to comprehend that that Point of Doctrine being so new that it was not known for the space of six Ages together even among the Doctours of the Western Church who have not neither any one of them in particular nor all together anything determinate to induce the reception of it and justifie that they had received it can by no means be an Article of Faith Thirdly That such as alledge unto us the Greeks who never believed nor can to this day believe what is proposed to them concerning it by the Church of Rome deal very unhandsomly and are more worthy reproach then refutation which their Supposition doth not deserve And lastly That Coccius who hath made no difficulty to bring in as Witnesses the Greeks sojourning at Venice and Jeremy Patriarch of Constantinople who in those very Places which he cites deny what he pretends to prove did not any way consider what he ought either his own Cause or the sincerity of
and to make those who had complied instrumental to draw in those who were unwilling to do it Accordingly upon the fourteenth of April Bessarion made a long Speech in favour of the Sentiment of the Latines and George sirnamed Scholarius afterwards Patriarch presented no less then three Orations upon the same Subject The Emperour who on Whitsunday the twenty fourth of May was gone to the Pope upon a Message he had received from him to that purpose when he heard him say that the great Charges he had been at came to nothing that he squandered away his Money and done all he thought convenient vindicating himself the best he could replied I am not the Master of the Synod and I will not be so Tyrannical as to force my Synod to say any thing And on the Wednesday following the Greeks being admitted to Audience understood that they were reduced to an impossibility the Pope making this Discourse to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Which way soever I look I see division before mine eys and much wonder how division can be advantageous to you If it be so how will the Western Princes take it And what sadness shall we conceive thereat Besides how will you return into your Countrey As if he had said You must either come to our Opinion and upon that Condition obtain the conveniences of returning into your Countrey or quit all hope of ever getting thither as being a thing not to be attempted but with our Leave and upon our Charge Whereupon all Mark Arch-bishop of Ephesus onely excepted being at an absolute loss of all courage bethought themselves how they might be dis-engaged upon the best Terms they could and the Emperour having on Tuesday the second of June sent to the Pope by the Arch-bishop of Russia to know what assistance he would afford him had this Answer brought him by three Cardinals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. First as to the present the most Holy Father makes accompt to furnish you with what shall sufficiently defray your Charges as also to finde you Galleys that all your People and the Church of the East may return to Constantinople Secondly To maintain constantly at his own Charge three hundred Souldiers for the safety of the City Thirdly To have upon his accompt two Galleys as a Guard unto it and to keep a Watch near it Fourthly To procure that the Devotion of Jerusalem be exercised at Constantinople and that the Galeasses which go for the Veneration of the enlivening Sepulchre come to Constantinople Fifthly To finde when the Emperour should stand in need of Galleys for his assistance twenty Galleys armed upon his own accompt for the space of six Moneths and in case there should be need onely of ten for a year Sixthly To endeavour as in the presence of Christ that the Nations of Christendom may come in to his relief when he should be necessitated to have an Army by Land Thus the extream necessity of that conjuncture having destroyed the concernments of Religion by those of Policy which seemed to smother if not the disagreements at least the Disputes that were between them the Union of the Latines and Greeks is concluded And as the Pope discovered what accompt he made of the Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the visitation and adoration of the holy Sepulchre when he spoke of discrediting them in favour of Constantinople and to transfer thither the most celebrious Devotions of the Latines together with the advantages accrewing to the places where they are exercised depriving Palaestina of the profits she had derived from them for the space of 350. years together and condemning as fruitless the Expeditions which had raised them to the greatest heighth So the Greeks made it appear that the fear of loosing their temporall good was able to perswade them to sell the liberty of their Consciences and that the onely Argument which induced them to comply with the Sentiment of the Latines was taken from Earth and not from Heaven So that if the Poet had reason to say of Daws Pies and Parrats when brought to the pronunciation of what words they heard that the Belly had been their Master and had given them the ingenuity to imitate the words which nature had denyed them the Church of Rome might well acknowledge that the Greeks were overcome not by the force of her proofs but by the sound of her fair promises and that her purse and credit had been the true bait whereby they had been caught and that they had not been instructed in the Latine Opinions but under the direction of Fear and Despair the most wretched Masters that ever were The Patriarch Joseph who during all these Intrigues grew weaker and weaker had on Tuesday June the ninth the Eve of his departure out of this World signed the Profession which he was desirous to make for the advantage of the Church of Rome and all remained to be done was that the Prelates who had accompanied him should do the like But the Pope not willing to come to any capitulation with them but at discretion gave them on the sixteenth following a Paper which might have startled the Emperour if Julianus Caesarinus Cardinal of St. Angelo had not appeased him by these words Send your Commander and us Letters that the Galleys may be provided but we desire you to stay and the Commander with you till it shall have pleased God to bring the business to some issue that then he may return along with you with much glory We shall bear all your charges as far as Venice and guard you to the City of Constantinople let not your Majesty be troubled as to that particular After which they trifled away the time till the two and twentieth of the moneth and then the Pope sent by three Cardinals this Message That he would have all the priviledges of his Church and the prerogative of Appeals and would direct and feed the whole Church of Christ as the Shepherd of the Sheep and withall the right and power to call a general Councel when there should be any necessity and that all the Patriarchs should submit to his will which put the Emperour out of all hope and surprized him so as that he made onely this answer Give order for your departure if you think good Yet to prevent an absolute rupture the Pope entred into further conference with him and entertained both him and his upon Friday the six and twentieth following with a Collation of Sweet-meats and Wine after which and his retirement out of the place those whom he had brought with him unanimously writ these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We acknowledge concerning the dignity of the Pope that he is High-Priest and Bishop and Lieutenant and Vicar of Christ Pastor and Teacher of all Christians and that he directs and governs the Church of God the priviledges and rights of the Patriarchs of the East being observed that the Patriarch of Constantinople
that to address to her either separately or joyntly with God Almighty the solemn Sacrifice is to serve her with the service of Latria and to transfer to the Creature the Glory of the Creatour Or when Jovianus Pontanus a Great Person otherwise Councellour and Secretary of State to Ferdinand of Arragon King of Naples feigned that St. Michael the Archangel appearing to Laurence Bishop of Sipontum in Apulia had entertained him with this horrid and necessarily-false Discourse concerning the Grot of the Mountain Garganus now called Mont di S. Angelo Michael ego sum qui hoc excavato saxo hac antro hoc habitaculo his assidue manantibus stillis abluturus sum ac deleturus meam ad aram confugientium mortalium errata c. I am Michael who having hollowed this Rock this Cave this Habitation shall by these perpetually falling drops wash away and take off the sins of those who have recourse to my Altar as if ever any one of the blessed Angels of Light of whom St. Augustine sometime said to the Heathens Utinam vos illos colere velletis facilè enim ab ipsis disceretis non illos colere c. I wish you would also attempt to serve them as sometime did St. John for you might learn of them not to serve them as if I say it had been a thing becoming any of the Angels to importune men for Temples and Altars or at least to erect them to themselves or lastly to attribute to themselves the honour of washing away and blotting out the sins of men or as if any other then the Son of God had purged our sins and that by the sacrifice of himself appearing now once for to put away sin sanctifying those who are his through the offering of his Body once for all having offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever and by that offering for ever perfected them that are sanctified Upon which accompt St. John says that he is the Propitiation for our sins and that his blood cleanseth us from all â—n yet this very Church of Rome I say who hath in those of her Communion forborn to take any notice of the wicked and scandalous Expressions we have even now refuted made no difficulty after St. Augustine to declare those guilty of sacrilege who should presume to sacrifice to any of the Saints nor in imitation of him to affirm that it is a less sin to return drunk from the Memorials or Sepulchres of the Martyrs then to sacrifice to them fasting But considering with the whole antient Church in her Liturgies the things distributed in the Eucharist no otherwise then as gifts and presents which God gives us and which he creates and dayly leaves to our disposal though by their consecration we hold with the Holy Fathers that they become Religious Sacraments Figures Images Signs and Similitudes of the Body and Blood of Christ nay that very Body and Blood in a Sacramental way no man ought to think they absolutely cease to be what they were according to the condition of their nature before the Consecration viz. aliments of refection created for our use and left to our discretion to be communicated to those who are with us whether effectually or in outward appearance in the Communion of the Church Upon this accompt St. Ambrose might say that he made a Present of it to Valentinian a Catechumen indeed as to outward appearance but in effect one of the Faithfull in as much as he had made a Vow to receive Baptism much after the same manner as at this day the Church of Rome in the distribution of the Bread which she calls Holy reserves even for the absent that are in Communion with her whom the Persons that offer it are willing to honour their portion as a kinde of Honourary Present Thirdly I intreat the Reader to observe that St. Ambrose who had said of the Great Theodosius that he had attained salvation through his humility in imitation of David that his soul was returned into her rest c. that she had made haste to enter into the City of Jerusalem into true glory in the Kingdom of the blessed in the enjoyment of perpetual light rejoycing in the fruits of the reward for the things he had done in his body does not when he concludes his Discourse with this Wish Grant thy servant perfect rest that rest which thou hast prepared for thy Saints any way insinuate to the prejudice of what he had said before that the Soul of that Prince was then when he spoke in expectation of her rest for he adds immediately after that he remains in light and is glorified in the Assemblies of the Saints in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus enjoying the society of Gratian his Brother-in-law of Flaccilla his Daughter and of the great Constantine but he desires on his behalf not absolutely rest since he was possessed of it as to his Soul but the perfect rest the possession whereof he could not arrive to in Body and Soul till after the Resurrection and in comparison to which what he was then possessed of could not be accompted other then imperfect and as it were half since he enjoyed it but in one of the parts of his Person the other being to remain under the power of Death till the Last day at which time it was to be rejoyned to the other that they might be joyntly received into Glory Into this Doctrine which in the main presupposes the Hypothesis of the Protestants concerning the Beatitude of the Faithfull as to their souls from the Moment of their Body's dissolution we finde a little rubbish shuffled which the Protestants do not conceive any one should force them to take upon their accompt In the first place according to the then Custom but without any Command or Promise of God and without the Example of the Apostolique Church the onely means able to Authorise his Action St. Ambrose prays for him whom he acknowledged in Bliss in the Kingdom of God a kinde of Office which he himself in his Funeral Oration for Valentinian had declared purely Arbitrary and proceeding from the Will-worship whereof St. Paul had about three hundred and thirty years before expresly advertized the Colossians and by them the whole Church through all Ages to beware And secondly where he prays that the Soul of Theodosius might return into the rest whence it had descended he not onely makes a superfluous Wish and consequently ill-grounded according to his own confession since that Soul was already gotten into the place where he wished it But he shews further that he had a little Tincture of Origene's Venom whose Imagination it was that the souls having sinned in Heaven and being forced to depart thence were descended guilty of Crimes and as such had been disposed into Bodies An Opinion which was condemned in the year 399. by the unanimous consent of the whole Church which constantly maintains even to this day and that