not what sense they made so they were handsomly matched togither Well howsoeuer our workes shal be found when they shall be openly iudged before him that best doth know them I am sure they shall not proue worse then the popish cleargy and if they shall be examined by mans iudgement me thinke they should be very vnequall Iudges before whom we should not be able to approue our innocency in comparison of our aduersaries doings But that in wordes we praise all maner of sinne whether it be in committing that which God forbiddeth or in omitting that which God commaundeth If that I say can be proued against vs then let our enemy pursue our soule and take it yea let him tread our life downe to the earth and lay our honour in the dust But to returne to our works what example is brought out to confirme the same Not the particular faultes of some of our profession that might beare some colour of confirmation lest for the infirmitie of euery one of our side he might be requited with the enormities of an hundreth of his owne sect but that he chuseth which is common to most of our preachers not to be found in any one of theirs This no doubt must be some great offence to iustifie so heinous an accusation In deede a great mote in the Papistes eyes that is the mariage of our ministers Blessed be God that although some singular persons may be accused of notorious crimes yet our whole state can not be charged by this instrument of Sathan with no greater fault then the allowance of Gods owne institution And yet see howe this rowling rhetorician scoffeth with the schole mens terme of Annexum ordini Be like S. Paule taketh mariage to be so annexed to the order of an ecclesiasticall minister that he neuer describeth the perfect paterne of a Bishop or Deacon but one of the first pointes is that he be the husband of one wife But I pray you M. Allen though you can not away with the mariage of vowed Priestes are you also angry with the matrimony of our new disordered ministers as it pleaseth you to call them which neuer tooke your order nor medled with any vowes you were wont to account them for mere lay men and will you not allow the mariage of lay men at least wise to be lawfull if you can not with the Apostle call it honorable Is that which the Apostle counteth honorable of you called licentious life and which the spirite of God nameth an vndefiled bed dare you terme it contemptibly a couch for delicate persons ease What haue you here to cloke your open blasphemy for your wordes are not of the abuse but of the state of mariage it selfe You procede with like modesty to affirme that we haue remoued all those meanes that might serue for the abating of sinnes dominion and which are they For soth the Sacrament of penaunce fasting and the opinion of purgatory To the first we answere that we know no Sacrament of penaunce instituted by Christ but the doctrine of repentance defaced by the false and deuilish perswasions of auriculer confession superstitious satisfaction and popish absolution we haue faithfully restored according as the same is taught in the holy Scriptures of god And those other we haue remoued as being not onely contrary to the doctrine of Gods word but also as most pernicious pillowes and blasphemous boulsters of all sinne and securitie For what feare or conscience could be of sinne intended or committed where this perswasion tooke place that the fast once rehearsed in the eare of a priest and a fewe wordes by him pronounced after a sory satisfaction of a pelting penance according to the Priestes pleasure was a full and sufficient discharge both before God and the world And as for the power and authoritie of pardoning or reteining sinnes that our Sauiour Christ hath committed to his ministers is not taken away by vs but truly declared to be the iudgement of God and not the absolute authority of man But how blasphemously the Papists chalenge vnto them selues this authority let it appeare by this that M. Allen calleth it that power which the sonne of man hath in earth to forgiue sinnes by which words our Sauiour Christ challengeth vnto him self that which is proper vnto his diuinitie although he were humbled in the shape of a seruaunt vppon earth namely an absolute authority to forgiue sinnes which none hath in heauen or in earth but only god And as to the remouing of fasting if that be fasting which they call fasting namely the eating of fish it hath not bene diminished but increased in our time and as for true fasting and abstinence in deede it hath bene publikely commaunded obserued as occasion was offered and priuate fasting with the right vse thereof is still commended in our doctrine men exhorted vnto it Onely the abuses superstition and deuilish doctrine set forth by the papistes is remoued if it be litle practised it is because among many professors there are but few followers of the Gospel But looke vpon the persecuted congregations and you shall see often publike fasting the priuate exercise the Lord knoweth and hath commaunded to be couered rather then opened Nowe must we come to the opinion of purgatory which in deede togither with masse of Scala coeli we haue vtterly remoued and digged vp euen from the very foundations howsoeuer M. Allen gathering togither the old rude rubbish tempering it with new fine cement would labour to build it vp againe And euen as I sayd of popish confession and satisfaction so say I of purgatory we abhorre the opinion therof not only as blasphemous against the bloud of Christ which purgeth vs from al our sinnes but also as a very canch of careles securitie which Sathan hath deuised to aduaunce the dominion of sinne For where as the feare of euerlasting torments of hell fire is the right terrour to bridle iniquitie as that which is due for sinnes and wickednes yet restraineth not the vngodly from their abominable life what restraint shall there be when the eternall paines are chaunged into temporall the temporall paines may be redemed by so small a price as popish satisfactions may be bought for which redemption if it be neglected in mens life yet it may be performed by their friendes after their death M. Allen sayth fewe of vs consider the deepe wound that sinne maketh in mans soule But we may iustly say to the Papistes that they neither consider the depth of the wound nor the perfection of the medicine For we consider the wound of sinne to be as deepe as the deepest pitt in hell which will not be filled vp with the slabbersawce of mens merits and satisfactions but onely with the bloud of the onely sonne of god which is so soueraigne a salue for this so desperate a sore that of them that were the children of wrath and deade in sinnes it quickneth them rayseth
to the places of punishment in the next life let them with purgatory rase vp the fathers resting place so plainely set forth by scripture beleued of the whole Church and alwayes taught by the holy fathers Yea let them that will haue no place for sinners finde with blasphemie hell like torments for Gods owne Sonne with the damned spirites My hearte surely will scarse serue me to report it and yet cursed Caluine was not afearde to write it and with arrogant vauntes against the blessed fathers to auouch the same That miserable forsaken man sawe that the onely graunt of the olde fathers punishment by the lacke of euerlasting ioye might of force driue him to acknowledge that God sometimes exerciseth his iustice vpon those which he loueth in the next life and so consequently that Purgatory paynes might be inferred therevppon therefore he fell headelong to this horrible blasphemye that Christ went not to loose any from the paynes of the next life but to be punished in hell with the deadely damned him selfe for to amend the lacke of his passion vppon the Crosse. O our cursed tyme O corrupt conditions this beast writeth thus agaynst our blessed Sauiours death and against the sufficiency of the abundant price of our redemption and yet he liueth in mans memory yea his bookes be greedely redd redde Nay by such as would be counted the chiefe of the cleargy and beare Byshops names they are commaunded to be redde and the very booke wherein this all other detestable doctrine is vttered especially by their authority commended to the simple Curats study that they might there learne closely in deuilish bookes such wicked heresies as the preachers them selues dare not yet in the light of the world vtter nor maintaine But other be not so farre fallen therefore they must of reason confesse that God by iust correction hath before Christes comming visited in the next world many hundred yeares togither the sinnes of those whome he dearly loued Although not onely in all that time the soules of the holy Patriarches felt the lacke of the aboundant fruition of the Maiesty but also for sinne they both then in rest and now in vnspeakeable felicity want till this day the encrease of ioy and blesse that by the receauing of their bodyes yet lying in dust they are vndoubtedly sure of Therfore it is ouer much presumption to limit the maiesty of God in the gouernment of his owne creatures to the borders of our short life and almost it toucheth his very prouidence with iniury to say that he letteth him scape without punishment for his sinnes that repented not till the houre of death as for whom he hath no scourge in the next life as he had here if death had not preuented his purpose These childish cogitations can not stand with the righteousnes of his will that for the first sinne committed doth not onely punish many euerlastingly of the forsaken sorte but also for the same punisheth both his best beloued in earth and for a time abateth the felicity of the blessed Sainctes in heauen But I will not stray after these men My matter is so fruitefull that I may not roue And though the sectes of these dayes haue so infected euery braunch of our christian faith that a man can not well ouerpasse them what so euer he taketh in hand yet I will not medle with them no further then shall concerne the quicke of our cause and the necessary light of our matter 5 Now this lusty gallaunt as though he had fully repayred and fortified the olde ruinous and battered towers of limbus patrum with canuas paynted walls he standeth vpon his bulwarke of browne paper and cryeth defiaunce to all his enemies and especially he vttereth his spite agaynst Caluine as a notorious enemy of his cause quarel Whom because he is to young to encounter withall by any witt learning reason or truth he spitteth out against him most impudent sclaunders raylings and lyes in which faculty he hath striued so much to shew him selfe eloquent that not satisfying him selfe with the voyce of a man he hath borrowed the tongue of the Deuill him selfe or at the least wise for feare he should not lye throughly geuen ouer his shamelesse tongue to be wagged by the father of lyes For what man with any shewe of humane reason would accuse Caluine to deny the sufficiency of the redemptiō of Christ to affirme that Christ went downe into hell after his death to be punished there with the damned him selfe for to amend the lacke of his passion vpon the crosse whose doctrine God him selfe the Angells and all the world doth knowe and testifie to be directly contrary to these sclaunders For who euer more constantly affirmed or more substantially proued the sufficiency of our redemption by Christes death what asse so vnlearned if he can but conster Caluins latine in his catechisme institutions or any part of his workes where he entreateth of that article of Christes descense in to hell may not plainly see that he vtterly denieth his descending into hell after his life affirming the same to be vnderstood of the wrath of God which he sustayned for our sinnes before his death at that time especially when he that was God complained that he was forsaken of God which mystery if M. Allen vnderstand not it is no maruell seeing he abridgeth so much the benefite of Christes redemption as all papistes doe alwayes and he specially in this his defence of purgatory and yet he is not ashamed to say of Caluine this beaste writeth against our blessed Sauiours death If I did not moderate somwhat my corrupt affections I could requite him the like reproches but this much I must needes say Is Caluine a beast for speaking the truth to the glory of Christes redemption Allen an honest man for sclaundering him to the defacing of Gods honour But because he would not be thought to haue spued oute all his poison against Caluine he goulpeth vp an other bowlefull of rayling and sclaundering against our Bishoppes who haue not onely suffered but also commended Caluins bookes to be reade and studied of the simple curates affirming that they doe priuily set forth by books that which they dare not openly preach If euery man that can be a witnesse that M. Allen lyeth in this matter should pull one heare from his heade or bearde they would leaue him neuer an heare of an honest man behinde them But that he maie returne to his gentle aduersaries with whome is lesse daungerous dealing there be some he sayth that graunt the punishment of the fathers after their death of whose liberall concession he doubteth not but to patch vp his Purgatory In which practise he is not vnlike a fonde fellowe of whome I haue hearde men iest in Cambridge who when he was non plus as they terme it in disputation and all his argument spent that he had prouided Now sayth he will I dispute of your concesses
purged of the smaller spottes which sticke by him In the same sense doth Theodoretus both expounde the wordes of the Apostle and vtter his iudgement of Purgatory also and almost the rest of all the Latine or Greeke writers which my purposed breuitie with plentifull proofe otherwise forceth me to leaue to the studious reader 3 Next ensueth the authoritie of Ieronym or Bede or perhaps neither of them both but yet of some olde writer which holdeth that from light sinnes men may be absolued after their death by paynes prayers almes or masses This was a writer for M. Allens tooth but neither of antiquitie nor credit sufficient to cary away this cause The iudgement of Oecumenius and Theodoretus though they were writers about that time when corruption of doctrine had greatly preuailed yet are they not cleare for popish purgatory which the greeke Church although they pray for the dead yet would neuer agree to acknowledge 4 One place more I will onely adde out of Remigius because he learnedly may knit vp the place by ioyning both the Prophet and Apostles wordes together vpon which we haue stand so longe Thus that good author writeth Ipse enim quasi ignis conflans peccators exurens Ignis enim in conspectu eius ardebit in circuitu eius tempestas valida Hoc igne consumūtur lignum foenum stipula Nec solum erit quasi ignis sed etiam quasi herba fullonum qua vestes nimium sordibus infectae lauantur Porro his qui grauiter peccauerunt erit ignis conflans exurens illis vero qui leuia peccata commiserunt erit herba fullonum Hinc per Isaiam dicitur si abluerit dominus c. Qui enim habent sordes leuium peccatorum spiritu iudicij purgantur qui vero sanguinem habent hoc est grauioribus peccatis infecti sunt spiritu ardoris exurentur purgabuntur Et sedebit conflans emundans argentum colabit eos quasi aurum argentum hoc est intellectum colloquium vt quicquid mixtum est stanno vel plumbo camino domini exuratur quod purum aurum est argentum remaneat Et purgabit filios Leui In filijs Leui omnem sacerdotalem ordinē intelligimus a quibus iudicium incipiet quia scriptum est tempus est vt iudicium incipiat a domo dei alibi à sanctuario meo incipite Si autem sacerdos flammis purgandus est colandus quid de caeteris dicendum est quos nullum commendat priuilegium sanctitatis These golden wordes haue this sense He shall come as the goldesmithes fire burning sinners For in his sight a flame shall rise and a mighty tempest rounde about him by which fire our woodde hay and stooble shall be wasted and worne away VVith that he shall be like the clensers herbe whereby garments very much stained be purged To all those that haue greuously offended he wil be a burning and melting fire but to the light sinners he shall be as the washers herbe VVhich difference the prophet Esay noteth thus If our Lorde wipe away the filthe of the daughters of Syon and bloude from the middest of Israel in the spirite of iudgement and fire For such as haue onely the spottes of veniall sinnes they may be amended by the spirite of iudgement but men of bloude to witte the more greuous offenders must be tried by fire And he shall sit casting and purifying siluer and shall purge men as golde and siluer be purified that is to say our thoughtes understanding and wordes from impurity and vncleannesse as from pewter and leade by Gods fornace shall exactly be purged and nothing shall be left but as pure as golde and fine siluer And he shal purge the sonnes of Leui that is the ordre of priesthood where this heuy iudgement shall first begin For so it is writtē Time is now that iudgemēt begin at the house of God and againe Begin at my sanctuary If the priest must be purged and fined what shall we deme of other whome priuilege of holy ordre doth not commende or helpe thus farre goeth the author in conference of diuerse scriptures VVho with the rest of al the holy fathers that compassed their senses within the vnity of Christes Church hath founde by euident testimony of sundry scriptures the paines of purgatory which the busy heades of our time by vaine bragging of scriptures in singular arrogancy of their owne wittes can neuer finde 4 Last of all here is vaunt made of the testimony of Remigius as though he were a new author and perhaps M. Allen in his notes founde him so but it is nothing else but the saying of Ieronym almost word for word vppon 3. Malach 3. which before we haue shewed sufficiently to be mēt of the iudgement that Christ should exercise by his doctrine at his first comming and nothing at all pertayning to purgatory And therefore these golden words as you cal them M. Allen haue a leaden exposition when they be drawne from the preaching of the Gospell to the mayntenance of purgatory A further declaration of this pointe for the better vnderstanding of the doctours vvordes VVherein it is opened hovv purgatory is ordeined for mortal sinnes hovv for smaller offences vvho are like to feele that griefe vvho not at all CAP. IX 1 ANd I thinke they now haue small aduantage by the exception of Origens testimony by occasion whereof such light is founde for our cause that we now by goodly authority haue both founde the placies alleaged plainely to proue purgatory and also what sinnes it namely purgeth and what men after their death may be amended thereby That not onely the bare trueth but some necessary circumstances to the studious of the trueth haue bene here by iust occasion opened and all errour wholy remoued Except this point may somewhat stay the reader that heareth in some places the paines of Purgatory to be both a punishment for greuous sinnes and a purgation of lighter trespasses with all and yet that it now may appeare the contrary by the minde of some learned authors who expressely make that paine as a remedy onely for veniall sinnes and not to apperteine at all to the capitall and deadely crimes that man often times doth commit Therefore to be as plaine as may be necessary for the vnlearned or any other that is godly curious in things much tending to the quiet rest of mans conscience it is to be noted that this ordinary iustice of God in the life following for the purgation of the elect can not discharge any man of mortall sinne which was not pardoned before in the Church militant vppon earth And therefore what crime so euer deserueth damnation and was not in mans life remitted it can not by purgatory paines be released in the next because it deserueth death euerlasting and staieth the offender from the kingdome of heauen for euer no peine temporall in this
flambes of purgatory But as I haue noted before that you haue hetherto kept this order for the most parte to plante one thinge in one chapter and then to pull it vp by the rootes in the next so you haue not forgotten your selfe in the diuision of your bookes But that the latter shoulde be a sufficient confutation of the former or else the former a manifest excluding of the latter For if the iustice of God doth so necessarily require a punishment for sinnes remitted that the same coulde not be satisfied no not by that only sacrifice which the sonne of God offered once for all on the aulter of the crosse it is a colde comforte that a carefull conscience can receiue that the same shoulde be done by his merites or your Masses which was not done by the bloude of Christ Yet now you will talke how the fiery sword maye be turned away surely if the fiery and shaking sworde that was set to exclude man from Paradise was not taken away by the death of Christ when he opened Paradise yea the kingdome of heauen whereof Paradise was but a sacrament vnto all beleuers I meruaill how either the penitent these had passage into Paradise or what engins you Papistes haue to turne it awaye which he had not The wordes of Damascene if they were not applied as you saye they are to purgatory paines and remedies of the same were true of Gods iustice and his mercy but as his age is to young so his authoritie is to light to controll the trueth of the worde of God or the practise of the first purest Church which knew no purgatory nor prayers for the deade But if our sinnes forgeuen were neuer so greuous c. what mad man woulde euer write thus Euen such a one as might be allowed to speake thus if blacke were neuer so blacke before it were cleane taken away and perfect white placed in the steede yet when white is white it is white But M. Allen wil not allowe that the coullor of our sinnes is cleane taken away and a contrary coullor of righteousnesse set vppon vs but that sinnes forgeuen be but halfe forgeuen the gilte taken awaye the punishment due for the gilte still remayning And this one halfe of forgeuenesse is but graunted in wordes and denied in deede For if the gilte of our sinnes be cleane taken away from vs and layed vpon the person of Christ and the righteousnesse of Christ is communicated vnto vs what is there lefte in vs that God of his goodnesse can hate or of his iustice can punish So it is but for a fashion that the papistes graunt any parte of our sinnes forgeuen when they will haue vs make satisfaction for them our selues But where as M. Allen is out of measure prodigall in promising releiffe and release of purgatory paines to them whose sinnes were neuer so greuous their vicious life wasted in idle wealth the space of penaunce and opportunity of working neglected in time preuented by sodaine death c rehersing so many meanes of mitigation as sometime the bloude of Christ the residew of his merites the crye of the mother Church the memory of the Masse the merites of all Sainctes the prayers of the faithfull and workes of the charitable All this notwithstanding take heede you poore Papistes that you geue no credit to these flattering wordes For it is the opinion of all the olde writers that doe allowe any of these thinges to profit men after their death and concluded by the Maister of the Sentence and aduouched by Allen him selfe afterwarde chapt 7. that no man can receiue benefit after his departure by any worke or will of the liuing but he that in his life deserued the same neither shal any thing worke vpon him more or lesse but according to his owne deseruing in this life Trust not therefore in these sophisticall vanities which are contrary one to an other but imbrace the vniforme vndoubted doctrine of Gods word which teacheth repentaunce faith iustification and saluation not with curious questions to troble your braynes but with perfect conclusions to quyet your conscience not suffering you to sleepe in securitie vpon hope of helpe after your death but charging you to shew the force of mortification and fruictes of fayth while you are aliue Not puffing vp your phantasie with pride of your owne merites but teaching you to ascribe all prayse to Gods glorious grace and infinite mercy 2 The cruell aduersary of man kinde as before he wrought his worst against Purgatory so here he busely pricketh forwarde the schoole of Protestantes to improue to their owne vtter damnation and the notable hinderaunce of our louing bretherns saluation all such meanes as God by scripture or other testimony of his worde hath reueled to be profitable for the abating of paine or the release of the apointed punishment in that place of temporall torment to come Against which deceiuers I meane by Gods helpe in this ordre to trauell 2 The cruell aduersary of mankinde and enuyor of Gods glory inuented Purgatory to deface the merites of Christes death and to blemish the onely meanes of mans eternall life which when he coulde not with any seemely coullor establish by the authority of the holy Scriptures the onely testimony of his worde and will reueiled and confirmed by his holy Spirite he hath inuented fayned fables and deuilish illusions to deceiue the mindes of them whome he had enclined vnto superstition and not bene ashamed to match them in credit and estimation with the very worde of God it selfe As appereth by this scribe of Sathan which nameth the scriptures for a simple shew but by and by addeth other testimonies of Gods worde beside the scriptures inspired by God whereby he maketh equiualent those false reuelations raised vp from Hell with the inspiratiō of the holy Ghost which hath brought the truth from heauen But now commeth in the order of this deuillyshe horror 3 First I will proue that sinnes may be pardoned or the debt and bonde thereof released in the next worlde 3 You shall neuer proue by authoritie of Gods word that sinnes not repented in this life shal be pardoned after this life where there is no repentaunce profitable nor yet any debt payed but by them that paye it eternally in perpetuall torments 4 Then I shall shewe what meanes the holy Scripture approueth or the example thereof awarraunteth to be proffitable for the soules departed 4 When you can proue either by doctrine or example agreable to doctrine of the canonicall Scriptures that any thing profiteth the soules departed that be not in happy state we will beleue it 5 I will open what the principall pillars and in a maner the flowre of all the faithfull sorte in sundry agies and almost in all Christian contryes haue lefte in writinge for this pointe 5 You are not able to bring one authenticall writer that within one 100 yeares and more after Christ hath allowed prayer for
benedicta agni videlicet immaculati qui tollis peccatum mundi potare de fonte pietatis tuae qui per lanceam militis de latere emanauit crucifixi Christi domini nostri vt consolati exultent in laude gloria tua sancta This in English we besech the most holy father for the soules of all faithfull departed that this high and greate sacrament of piety may be vnto them helth and salfty for euer ioye release and perpetuall refreshing O my Lorde God geue them this daye greate and perfect comfort of thee which art the bread that came downe from heauen and geuest life to the worlde Let them take ioye of thy holy and blessed flesh that is to saye of the lambe that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde Geue them to drinke of the springe of thy piety which by the pricke of the souldiers speare did aboundantly ishue out of the side of our Sauiour Christ and Lorde crucified that they being so comforted may reioyse in thy laude and glory euerlastingly To be brieefe all the Christian worlde agreeing as Isiodorus saith vpon one waye for the celebration of diuine mysteries maketh intercession for the faithfull departed that by the blessed sacrifice they maye obteine pardon and remission of their sinnes 7 It is a world to see that you haue nothing in a manner but forged euidence to proue the antiquitie of prayer for the deade in publicke seruice of the Church Who is so ignoraunt in antiquitie but he that will needes be obstinate that knoweth not those preparatories to that masse to be none of S. Ambrose his doings Otherwise it were not harde to proue that by the name of sacrifice he meaneth thankes geuing for the sacrifice of Christ as the maner of that vnpropre speach was to terme the holy sacrament which is but the seale of our saluation and not the matter thereof it selfe To be briefe what so euer Isidorus sayth if all the worlde agreed that intercession and sacrifice should be offered for the deade seeing it disagreeth from the worde of God and the practise of the primitiue Church so long as it followed the rule of Gods worde it is no whit to be regarded 8 For I assure the good reader that all realmes which nowe by Gods grace are in true faith and their Christianitie continuing or else before haue bene and now by schisme doe forsake the same that all those nations as they receiued one faith so in substance they haue euer agreed vniformely in order of seruice which they receiued at their first conuersion from the way of gentilitie by the good prouision of such as wrought vnder God in their happy turne to the Christian faith and religion The same men that brought in the faith of Iesus with all brought in this way of worshipping Christ in the same faith take away then this order of worship and solemne supplication which they planted thou must needes ouerthrowe the faith which they taught also This I say was euer found in the celebration of the fearefull mysterie of Christes body and blood besides the oblation of that holy host for the quicke and dead both namely for certaine and generally for all departed in Christ a solemne prayer and supplicatiō VVhich no doubt Christ instituted at his last supper which the holy Ghost afterward secretly suggested to the Apostles which they againe faithfully deliuered to the nations conuerted by their preaching and to diuerse of their owne disciples by whom the same was deriued downe to our dayes taught in all nations and carefully practised of all people VVhereof we haue worthy witnesses for all countries almost For so the godly doctors Tertullian Cyprian Augustine both taught and worshipped in Africke the same doth Hierom and Damascene in Syria Origen and Athanasius in Egypte Denyse the auncient and Bernarde in Fraunce Chrysostome in Thrase Basill and his brethern in Cappadocia Ambrose and Gregory the greate in Italy Augustine our apostle and Bede in our countrie of England with the rest of all nations baptized whome I named before and might doe yet a number what shoulde I say a numbre all that euer were counted Catholikes since the beginning were of the same sense in that cause And to name the residue where these do not serue it were lost labour For whome they can not moue I can not tell what maye perswade him in any matter Or if he dare not bestow his credit on these mens doinges whome maye he salfely trust If the communion and faithfull fellowship of so many godly and gracious men so vniformely consenting both in the teaching and practising of this matter can not sattell and quiet a mans conscience who can appeace his disquieted vnsteadfast minde and cogitation If in the construing of Gods word and scriptures so many of such graue iudgement of so approued wisedome of so passing learning of such earnest studie in tryall of the trueth of so vertuous a life of so heauenly a gifte and grace in the expounding of Gods worde maye not be salfely followed in this our search whome shoulde we follow or to whome shoulde the simple addicte them selues in so greate a turmoyle of learned men one sorte craking so fast of scripture and the other sorte when the matter commes to triall alleaging so many with so auncient and graue testimony for the true meaning of the same to which I saye is it wisedome to geue consent and credit if not to such as faithfully both followe and recite the scripture with the agreement of the worlde for the true sense thereof S. Augustine writing against Parmenianus the Donatiste much woundereth in that cleere light of trueth and the Churches doctrine the heretikes coulde be blinde or not see the euidence of that which all the worlde but them selues sawe And in many places he reckeneth the most horrible punishment in the worlde to be the cecity and blindenesse which God striketh the stubborne mans hearte with all in forsaking the fellowship of the Churches children But he that considereth the processe of our cause maye a thousand times more maruaill and feare Gods heuy iudgement in the blinding of the disobedient mens heartes and senses for sinne If they them selues were of their consciences examined what els they would wishe for the triall of any doubt I am sure they coulde name no one point nor any meanes in the worlde which our cause woulde not suffer and admitte For by what waye so euer any trueth in Gods Church was seuerally in the auncient times auouched against the aduersary heretike I am sure we haue the same with the aduauntage And for this last point of prayers in the Masses of all nations it is so euident that no man can gaine saye it and so generally practised that the vsage of praying coulde in no matter euer so cleerely set out the certaintie of our belefe as in this 8 If you will take M. Allens assurance in so weighty a matter that vseth so commonly to
of the exposition of the fathers Hieronym in his commentary vpon this place expoundeth the Northe and the Southe not for the states of grace or wrath but for the places of rewarde or punishment of them that die Si dignos Austro fructus attulit in plaga iacebit Australi Nec est aliquid lignum quod aut ad Aquilonem non sit aut ad Austrum If it haue brought forth fructes worthy of the South it shal lye in the Southe coste Neither is there any tree but it falleth either to the North or to the South As for your babling of the Saduces secte and doubting of the resurrection bidde your Popes and Cardinalls take heede of it Pope Iohn the 23. was condemned for it in the Councell of Constance Epicureisme and Saduceisme is more common at Rome then Christianitye 4 Nowe for the other texte recited out of S. Matthewes Gospell of the double waye the one to perdicion and the other to saluation there is almost none so simple but he seeth that it maketh no more for your purpose then the other For there as our aduersary can not but knowe though to deceiue he liste dissemble mention is made and the meaning is only of these two wayes in this worlde and life in one of which being full of ease and libertie the wicked walketh towardes hell or damnation In the which waye the riche man and vnmercifull tooke his time of whome Abraham said that he had receiued good in his dayes In the other being both straite and harde the small numbre of the chosen take their iourney towardes heauen And yet if you thinke good you maye ioyne the place of temporall punishment for sinne in the worlde to come to the straite and painefull passage of the elect though perhaps all they entre not thereby And so shall you finde this place not onely nothing to further their cause but somewhat to helpe ours 4 If there be but two wayes in this life there are but two abiding places after this life If there be more then two after this life then there be more wayes then two in this life Controll our Sauiour Christes partition as vnperfect if you list You will saye that needeth not for purgatory after this life is that straight gate or a pece of it what els It is not enough for our English Anaxagoras to exclude our opinion out of these places but he must finde purgatory in them also This is plaine to make quidlibet ex quolibet But the commaundement of Christ marreth the market of this interpretation vnlesse you thinke when Christ willeth vs to striue to goe in by the straight gate that he biddeth vs striue to goe into purgatory 5 And so for the other taken out of the fift to the Corinth S. Augustine shall aunswere you and beare me witnesse it maketh nothing for you his wordes be these in his Encheridion This practise that Gods Church vseth in the commendations of the deade is nothing repugnant to the sentence of the Apostle where he saith that we all shall stande before the iudgement seate of Christ that euery one may receiue according to his desertes in the body either good or euill for this in his life and before death he deserued that these workes after his death might be profitable vnto him for in deede they be not profitable for all men and why so but because of the difference and diuersitie of mens liues whilest they were in this flesh c. And this same sentence the Doctor often repeteth almost in the same forme of wordes in diuers places both to correct their ignorance that mighe take a way prayers for the deade because they finde the sentence of Gods iudgement to be executed on man according to the deseruing of this liefe and no lesse to geue monition to the carelesse that they omitte not to doe well in this life vppon hope or presumption of other mens workes after their decease which as they be exceding beneficiall to many so they helpe none such as in their owne life woulde not helpe them selues The like declaration of this pointe hath S. Denyse in the 7. chapter of his Ecclesiasticall soueraignty which I omitte lest in this point by S. Augustine sufficiently auouched I weerye the reader without cause 5 And S. Ieronym with your owne canon law shall aunswere you that prayers preuayle not after this life 13. q. 2. In praesenti In this present world we know that we may be helped one of an other either by prayer or by councel but when we shall come before the iudgement seate of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can intreate for any man but euery man must beare his owne burden 6 The last obiection of the Angells wordes in the Apocalypse aâ—firming the state of all those that dye in our Lorde to be happy to be past trauell and in reste and peace they be properly spoken there of holy men that sheede their bloude in the times of persecution for Christes sake to geue them assured comforte after a litle toleration and patience in the rage of Antichrist of blessed and eternall reste and so the circumstance of the letter plainely geueth and so doeth S. Augustine expounde it And for such holy Martyrs it is needlesse to pray as to pray vnto them is most profitable Albeit the wordes are true and maye be well verified of all that passe hense in the happy state of grace being past the cares of this troblesome worlde and which is the greatest trauell of all other vtterly dispatched of the toile that sinners take in their wayes of wickednesse with freedome from sinne and all feare of sinne and damnation for euermore So that this reste from labour is no more but a happy ioye of conscience with securitie of saluation and peace in Christ iesu For which cause in the holy Canon of the Masse it is saide Christianos dormire in somno pacis in Christo quiescere That Christian folkes doe sleepe in the sleepe of peace and rest in Christ though for all that in the same place we aske Requiem refrigerium reste and refreshing for them And this holy peace from all toyle of the worlde and worme of tormented conscience the electe children of God in their fathers correction being assured of his eternall loue doe blessedly enioye But the wicked be in contrary case of whome it is saide non est pax impijs there is no rest or quietnesse to the wicked no not in their dayes of ioye much lesse in their infinite miserie of their euerlasting torments in the worlde to come Of whose vnhappy state the Prophet warneth vs thus againe Impij quasi mare feruens quod quiescere non potest The wicked be right like vnto the tumblinge and tossinge sea that neuer resteth The place of S. Iohn then being namely spoken of holy Martyrs that straight with out all paine after this life passe to heauen may yet very
and graunts So M. Allen for euery matter when his owne reasons faile hath the concessions of his aduersaries which if they will not franckly make he wil forcibly compell them to say what he will haue them Last of all he sayth it is presumption such as toucheth the very prouidence of God with iniury to say that he letteth any sinner scape vnpunished which repented not vntill the houre of death as for whome he hath no scourge in the next life as he had here if death had not preuented his purpose But these he calleth childish cogitations but he might well haue termed them deuilish imaginations which will controule the wisedome and mercie of God vnder his blinde reason and corrupt affections and not suffer God to shew mercy vpon whome he will shew mercy Rom. 9. without his blaspemous and enuious murmuring His promise made so pleasauntely not to digresse from his fautlesse matter how perfectely he performeth we shall see afterwarde That the practise of Christes Church in the courte of binding and loosing mans sinnes doth liuely set forth the order of Gods iustice in the next life and proue Purgatory CAP. III. 1_THis being then proued that God him selfe hath oftē visited the sinnes of such as were very deare vnto him let vs now diligently beholde the graue authority of loosing and binding sinnes and the courte of mans conscience which Christ woulde haue kept in earth by the Apostles and Pastours of our soules where we neede not doubt but to finde the very resemblaunce of Gods disposition and ordinance in punishing or pardoning offensies For the honor and poure of this ecclesiasticall gouernement is by especiall commission so ample that it conteineth not onely the preaching of the Gospell and ministerie of the Sacraments but that which is more neare to the might and maiestie of God and onely aperteineth to him by proprietie of nature the very exact iudgement of all our secret sinnes with loosing and binding of the same For as God the father gaue all iudgement to his onely Sonne so he at his departure hense to the honor of his spouse and necessarie giding of his people did communicate the same in most ample maner as S. Chrysostome sayth to the Apostles and priestes for euer that they practising in earth terrible iudgemēt vpon mans misdeedes might fully represent vnto vs the very sentence of God in punishment of wickednesse in the worlde to come The princes of the earth haue poure to binde too but no further then the body but this other sayth he reacheth to the soule it selfe and practised here in the world beneth which is a straunge case hath force and effect in heauen aboue The poure of all potentates vnder the maiestie of the blessed Trinitie in heauen and earth is extreme basenesse compared to this By this graue authoritie therefore the Pastors and Priestes imitating Gods iustice haue exercised continually punishment from the spring of Christian religion downe till these dayes vpon all sinners perpetually enioyning for satisfying of Gods wrath penaunce and workes of correction either before they would absolue them as the olde vsage was or els after the release of their offensies which now of late for graue causes hath bene more vsed In which sentence of their iudgement we plainely see that as there was euer accomp◠made amongest all the faithfull of paine due vnto sinne though the very offense it selfe and the giltinesse as you would say thereof were forgiuen before so we may gather that it was euer enioyned by the priestes holy ministerie after the qualitie and quantitie of the fault committed VVhereupon they charged some maner offenders with certaine prayers onely other with large almose diuerse with long fasting many with perilous peregrinations some with suspending from the sacraments and very greuous offenders with curse and excommunication VVhereby thou maiest not onely proue that there is paine to be suffred for thy sinnes but also haue a very image of that miserie which in the next life may faule not onely to the damned for euer but also to all other which neglected in this time of grace the fructes of penaunce and workes of satisfaction for the aunswere of their liues past This great correction of excommunication and separation from the sacramentes S. Paule termeth the rodde wherewith he often threatened offenders yea and some times though it was with great sorow the punishment was so extreme he mightely in Gods steade occupied the same As once against Himeneus and Alexander and an other time towardes a Corinthian vpon whome being absent he gaue sentence of their deliuery vp to Satan not to be vexed of him as Iob was for the increase of merite sayth Chrysostome but in their flesh meruelously to be tormented for paiment for their greuous offensies and as the Apostle writeth of the Corinthian that his soule might be false in the day of our Lorde CAP. III. 1 BEcause this man would shew him selfe mindeful of his promise hereafter he is euen now wandered out of Purgatory into excommunication which notwithstanding he counteth no digression at all because it doth set forth the order of Gods iustice in the next life and proue Purgatory which were neither so nor so but that he hath a speciall grace to make all thinges serue his purpose though they be neuer so farre from it Omnia ex omnibus he can make what he liste of euery thing We confesse the power of excommunication geuen by Christ vnto his Church and the seueritie of the punishment thereof to be greater then the swelling wordes of M. Allens eloquence can expresse but where as he addeth that it hath bene the perpetuall vsage of Gods church for satisfying of Gods wrath to enioyne penaunce and workes of correctiō before they would absolue which was the olde custome or els after the release of their offence which was the new fashion he sheweth him selfe ignoraunte of the right vse and end of that auctoritie which our Sauiour hath committed vnto his Church For the chiefe ende of this discipline is to bring the sinners to repentaunce which if it may be obtained by admonitiō the sworde of excommunication must not be drawen out As appereth plainely by Christes owne wordes Matth. 18. If priuate admonition where the offence is not publike may preuaile to winne our brother there needeth no witnesse to be called If two or three may serue to admonish the matter neede not to be referred to the Churches knowledge and he that heareth the Church so that by the admonition thereof he is brought to harty repentaunce is not to be cut of from the Church nor to be deliuered to Sathan for how should the Church refuse him whome God receiueth But if he obstinatly contemne the gentle admonition of the Church or as our Sauiour saieth if he refuse to heare the Church then let him be as an heathen or publicane For afterwarde if being excommunicated he shew harty tokens of repentaunce
and good workes shew their coÌ„uersion not only by wordes but in deed and in trueth c. With them the Byshop maie deale more gently whereas those that thinke it is sufficient onely to enter into the Church are charged in any wise to keepe the ordinary time c. Wherefore he that gathereth that paines are due to sinnes after remission of them by example of them that remitted no sinnes but after sufficient paines suffered for them or amendes made for them I holde him not onely malitious blinde but beastly vnreasonable 4 And if any man yet doubt why or to what end the Church of Christ thus greuousely tormenteth her owne children by so many meanes of heuy correction whome she might by good authoritie freely release of their sinnes let him assuredly know that she coulde not so satisfie Gods iustice alwayes by whome she holdeth her authoritie to edifie and not to destroye to bynd as well as to loose Although such dolour for offensies committed and so earnest zele may she sometimes finde in the offender that her chiefe and principall pastors may by their soueraigne authoritie wholy discharge him of all paines to come But els in the commoÌ„ case of Christian men this penaunce is for no other cause enioyned but to saue them from the more greuous torment in the worlde following In the which sense S. Augustine both speaketh him selfe and proueth his meaning by the Apostles wordes as followeth Propterea de quibusdam temporalibus poenis quae in hac vita peccantibus irrogantur eis quorum peccata delentur ne reseruentur in finem ait Apostolus si enim nosmetipsos iudicaremus a domino noÌ„ iudicaremur Cum iudicamur autem a domino corripimur ne cum hoc mundo dâ—mnemur Therefore sayth he it is of certaine temporall afflictions which be laid vpon their neckes that being sinners haue their trespasses pardoned lest they be called to an accompt for them at the latter ende that the Apostle meaneth by when he sayth If we woulde iudge our selues we shoulde not then be iudged of our lord And when we be iudged of our Lord then are we chastened that we be not damned with the worlde This onely carefull kindnesse of our mother therefore that neuer remitted sinne that was notorious in any age but after sharp punishment or earnest charge with some proportionall penaunce for the same doth not onely geue vs a louing warning to beware and preuent that heuie correction of the worlde to come which S. Paule calleth the iudgement of God because it is a sentence of iustice but also in her owne practise here in earth of mercy in pardoning of iustice in punishment she geueth vs a very cleare example of both the same to be vndoubtedly looked for at the handes of God him selfe by whome in the kingdome of the Church these both in his behalfe be profitably practised For if there were no respect of the dredfull day in the ende of our life nor any paine further due for sinnes remitted in the next world then were it cruell arrogancy in the ministers to charge men with penaunce needlesse to the offender and foly to the sufferer But God forbid any shoulde be so malipert or misbeleuing as to miscredit the doinges and doctrine of the Catholike Church which by the authoritie she hath to binde sinnes and the protection of the holy Ghost hath vsed this rodde of correction to the profit of so many and hurte of none euer sence our maisters death and departure 4 Marke here gentle reader what an absolute power of remissioÌ„ of sinns this Papist doth ascribe to the Church that she might he sayth by good authority freely release men of their sinnes with out satisfying of Gods iustice but that she will not except in some case where she findeth such dolour and zeale in the offender that her chiefe and principall Pastors may by there soueraine authoritie wholy discharge him of all paines to come Marke here the soueraigne authoritie of the Pope not subiect no not to the iustice of god For els how should the Popes pardons stand or Christes merites be excluded if the Pope had not power to doe by his soueraigne authority that Christ coulde not doe by his bitter passion to discharge penitent sinners of all paines to come you see therefore that the Popish church is not as a wife subiect to Christ her spouse to exercise on earth the authoritie of Christ in heauen according to his will but a presumptuous harlot to claime soueraigne authoritie in earth wherevnto he is bounde which is in heauen For otherwise though the olde fathers that were most earnest in maintaining the Churches authoritie as Cyprian Sermo de lapsis speaking against theÌ„ which thought it was sufficient if they were receiued by the ordinary authoritie of the Church although they were not truely penitent writeth thus Nemo se fallat nemo decipiat Solus dominus misereri potest veniam peccatis quae in ipsum commissa sunt solus potest ille largiri qui peccata nostra portauit qui pro nobis doluit quem Deus tradidit pro peccatis nostris Homo Deo esse non potest maior nec remittere aut donare indulgentia sua seruus potest quod in dominum delicto grauiore commissum est ne adhuc lapso hoc accedat ad crimen si nesciat esse praedictum Maledictus homo qui spem habet in homine Dominus orandus est dominus nostra satisfactione placandus est qui negantem negare se dixit Let no man sayth he deceiue him selfe let no man begile him selfe It is onely the Lorde that can shew mercy Onely he can graunt pardon to offenses that are coÌ„mitted against him who hath borne our sinnes Who hath suffered sorrow for vs whome God hath geuen for our sinnes A man can not be greater then God neither can the seruaunt by his indulgence remit or forgeue that which by so great offence is committed against the Lorde lest this offence also be added to him that is fallen away if he know not that it is fore shewed Cursed is that man that putteth his trust in man The Lorde must be intreated the Lorde must be pacified with our satisfaction which sayth he doth deny that man that denieth him In these wordes Cyprian not onely plainely denieth that absolute soueraigne authoritie of men which M. Allen affirmeth but also declareth what he meaneth by satisfactioÌ„ of god Namely that those which counterfected repentaunce and though by some outwarde obseruations to satisfie the Church might know they had to doe with God who was not pleased but with inwarde and harty conuersion whose knowledge they must satisfie with true repentaunce in deede as they seeke to satisfie iudgement of the Church by externall signes and tokens thereof But to returne to the common case of Christian men for the Popes cases be out of the common case of christen men M. Allen sayth penaunce and by penaunce he
penaunce whereby the woundes of mans frailty are profitably cured be found 5 Aske your owne conscience M. Allen whether you haue not miserably wrested the Scriptures your selfe And lette all reasonable men aunswere whether such textes of Scriptures as you haue wrested out of the true sense I haue not wrested out of your handes And that not by shamefull denial of the Doctors but euen by the testimony exposition of the doctors them selues with force of matter rather then flow of wordes with plaine meaning rather then with deceitfull dealing And whereas you boast your selfe to be a reporter of antiquity you haue shewed your selfe to be a fauorer of forgery and a corrupter of antiquity As for the gracious giftes and conceit of comfort that you bragge of in your counterfeit Church of hypocrites and sclaunderous Synagoges of Satan how so euer you paynt it out with glorious termes we geue most humble harty thaÌ„ks to the infinite goodnes of God which hath geuen his holy spirite into our hearts with perfect assurance of his fauour euerlasting and hath so furnished his seruaunts with such giftes as he hath thought sufficient for the setting forth of his praise in his Church vpon earth that we neede not desire any other giftes or comfort out of his family but onely the continuance and increase of the same which we haue already in his owne house vntill we shall be translated from this mortall and corruptible state to the eternall and incorruptible glory which is laid vp in heauen for all them that wait for the appearing of the glorious God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ to whom be all honour and dominion both now and euermore Amen THE ENDE OF THE FIRST BOOKE THE SECOND BOOKE INTREATING OF THE PRAIERS and other ordinary reliefe that the Church of Christ procureth for the soules departed THE PREFACE OF THIS BOOKE wherein the matter of the treatise and the ordre of the Authors preceading be briefely opened 1 WE haue now taried very longe in the consideration of Gods iustice mighty scourge not onely for the euerlasting outcastes but also for the exacte triall of the chosen childrens wayes The beholding whereof must needes ingender some sorow and sadnesse of minde and with all as it commonly happeth in our frailety a certaine bitter tediousnesse both in the writer and the reader though for my parte I will say with S. Paule that it greeueth me neuer a whit that I haue in my talke geuen you occasion of sadnesse being assured that this present greefe may worke perfect penaunce to vndoubted saluation But the wearinesse of that rough part which might both by the weight of the matter and also by my rude handeling quickely arise to the studious reader I shall in this booke wholy wipe away not by art or pleasant fall of words which in plaine dealing is not much requisite but by the singular comfort of our cause In the continuall course whereof we shall ioy more and more at the beholding of Gods passing mercy in remission of sinnes and mitigatioâ—â—f the paines which iustice enioyned For now we must talke how the fiery sword of Gods ire may be turned from his people VVhich as one of the fathers truely saide beareth a great shewe of vengeaunce and iudgement because it is named a firy sworde but yet knowen withall to be a tourning sworde that is gladius versatilis it shall geue great cause of comfort againe O sapientes sayth deuoute Dasmacene ad vos loquor scrutamini erudimini quia plurimus est timor Dei domini omnium sed multò amplior bonitas formidabiles quidem minae incomparabilis autem clementia horrenda quidem supplicia ineffabile autem miserationum suarum pelagus Thus he speaketh of Purgatory and mercy O you of the wise sorte to you do I speake searche and learne that the feare of God the Lorde of all thinges is maruaillous much but his goodnesse farre ouerreacheth it His threatning exceding feâ—refull but his clemency vncomparable the prepared punishmeÌ„ts doubtlesse horrible but the bottomlesse â—ea of his mercies is vnspeakable so saide he Therefore if our sinnes forgeuen were neuer so greuous or our vicious life so farre wasted in idle welth that space of fructefull penaunce and opportunity of well working by the nightes approching and our Lordes sodden calling be taken away in which longe differring of our amendement heuy and sore execution must needes for iustice sake be done yet let vs not mistrust but God measureth his iudgement with clemency and hath ordeined meanes to procure mercy and mitigate that sentence euen in the middest of that firy doungion that the vessels of grace and the redemed flocke may worthely sing both mercy iudgement to our gracious God who in his angre forgetteth not to haue compassion neither withdraweth his pity in the middest of his ire For this imprisonment endureth no longer then our debtes be paide this fire wasteth no further then it findeth matter to consume this disâ—riet wise flame as some of the fathers before termed it chastiseth no longer then it hath cause to correct Yea often before this fire by course of iustice can cease God quencheth it with his sonnes bloude recompenseth the residew by our maisters merittes and accepteth the carefull crie of our mother the Church for hâ—r children in paine The memorie of Christes death liuely and effectually setforth in the soueraigne misteries vppon the Altare in earth entereth vp to the presence of his seate and procureth pardon in heauen aboue the merites of all sainctes the prayer of the faithfull the workes of the charitable both earnestly aske and vndoubtedly finde mercye and grace at his hande For of such the Prophet Dauid asketh Nunquid in aeternum proijciet Deus aut continebit in ira sua misericordias suas VVill God caste them awaye for euer or will he shutte vp his mercy when he is angrie No he will not so sayth S. Ambrose Deus quos proijcit non in aeternum proijcit God casteth of many whom he doth not euerlastingly for sake Then let vs seeke the wayes of this so mercyfull a Lorde that we may take singular comforte therein our selues against the day of our accompt and indeuour mercyfully to helpe our deare brethern so afflicted lest if we vse not compassion towardes them we iustly receiue at Gods hande for the rewarde of our vnmercyfulnesse iudgement and iustice with out mercy THE SECOND BOOKE TO THE PREFACE 1 YOu haue taryed longer in consideratioÌ„ of Gods iustice then is agreable to the matter of his mercy which is the death of his only sonne our Lord and Sauiour Christ. And now you will mollyfie the hardnesse of that handling with the sory comforte of your vnchristian cause Wherin you haue more regarde to the heating of your owne harthe then to the cooling of the selye soules to kindle a good fire in your owne kitchen then to quench the
principle as certaine as the first That the spirite of God hath a meaning in the scriptures which is not to be sought out of the scriptures in the opinions of deceiuable men but onely in the scriptures where is nothing but the spirite of trueth These 2. commaundements serch the scriptures and trie the spirites teach how to attaine to certainety of trueth For the scriptures are not vnderstood but by the spirite and the spirites are not tryed but by the scriptures Therefore that the spirite maye declare his owne meaning one place of scripture must be expounded by an other All other ordinary meanes and healpes of wit learning knowledge of tongues diligeÌ„ce in hearing reading and praying are subordinate and seruing to this search and tryall And who so obserueth this serch and tryall most precisely shall come to the knowledge of the trueth most certainely And who so euer is negligent in this search and tryall though he haue otherwise neuer so many and excellent graces and giftes may easely be deceiued yea euen when he thinketh he followeth the authority of the scriptures I coulde alleage for confirmation of this truth the testimony of diuers of the auncient fathers which if they had alwayes followed that which some times they so highly commended they should not so lightly haue passed ouer some thinges and other thinges so slenderly haue mainteined But my thinkes the testimony of the Pope shoulde be a per se with all Papistes The Pope him selfe in his canon lawe for Cayphas some times doth prophecy hath allowed this to be the onely waye to expound the scriptures Affirming that no where else but euen out of the scriptures themselues the true sense of the scriptures is to be taken Ascribed to Clemens dist 37. cap. Relatum Lex Dei cum legitur non secundum propriam ingenij virtutem vel intelligentiam legatur vel doceatur Sunt enim multa verba in scripturis diuinis quae possunt trahi ad eum sensum quem sibi vnus quisque sparte praesumpserit sed non oportet non enim sensum extrinsecus alienuÌ„ extraneum debetis quaerere vt quoquo modo ipsum ex sâ—ripturarum authoritate confirmetis sed ex ipsis scripturis sensum capere veritatis oportet When the lawe of God is reade let it not be reade or tought after the force or vnderstanding of a mans owne witte For their be many wordes in the holy scriptures which maye be drawen to such sence as euery man of his owne heade shal presume to make but you may not doe so For you ought not to seeke forth without any forayne or strange sence that you may confirme it by any meanes by authority of the scriptures but you must take the sence of trueth out of the scriptures them selues And thus much for the true vnderstanding of the scriptures and now to your false superstition First I deny that any of the auncient fathers in Christ his time or scholers to his Apostles or within one or two hundreth yeares after Christ except one that had it of Montanus the heretike as he had more thinges beside in any one worde mainteined your cause for purgatory or prayers for the deade Secondly of them that mainteined prayers for the deade the most confessed they had it not out of the scriptures but of tradition of the Apostles and custome of the Church therefore they are not to be compared vnto vs in better vnderstaÌ„ding of the scriptures for that point which they denyed to be receiued of the scriptures Thirdly those of the auncient fathers that agreed with you in any parte of your assertion for none within foure hundreth yeares was wholy of your error notwithstanding many excellent giftes that they had yet mainteined other errors beside that and about that discented one from an other and sometime the same man from him selfe and that is worst of all from manifest trueth of the holy Scriptures Therefore neither is their erroneous interpretation in this matter to be receiued nor M. Allens wise iudgement of vs to be regarded An aunsvvere to such arguments as the heretikes doe frame of the holy scriptures not vvell vnderstanded against the practise of Gods Church in praying for the deade or the doctrine of Purgatory CAP. XVI 1 THerefore to stoppe their waye at euery turne and because they talke so fast of scripture full fayne woulde I heare what scriptures they haue that make either expressely agaynst purgatory and prayers for the deade or else by any one learned man in all the worlde was euer expounded for any such sense And loe now good reader what scriptures they alleage that can abâ—de nothing but scripture First out of Ecclesiastes The tree whether it fall to the south or the north it lyeth euer where it lighteth Then they alleage out of S. Matthews Gospell that there be two wayes one to bring to heauen and the other leading straight to hell And then out of the second to the Corinthians they bring in howe we must all stande before the iudgement seat of Christ there to receiue eche of vs according to our workes and life and that by other mens labour our state can not be ameÌ„ded Againe they allege this sentence of the Apocalypse Beati mortui c. blessed be the deade that dye in our Lorde for after that the spirite sayeth that they shall reste from trauells All which textes and the like of that sorte make no more against purgatory then they doe against hell or heauen excepte that as Anaxagoras the philosopher saide all thinges were in euery thinge so these diuines can finde euery texte of scripture to make for what purpose they liste and yet if the Catholikes alleage a numbre of scriptures and them with the minde and iudgement of the whole worlde that doubteth not but they proue that for which they be recited yet they set light by them and impudently with clamors beare men in hande that they haue no scriptures at all VVhich thinges as they smell of much arrogancie in all men so in these folke that so malâ—pertly controwle others where them selues haue no scripture at all it is vntolerable CAP. XVI 1 THis chapter is but pro forma tantum to make a shew of a confutation where neither the tenth parte of our arguments are rehearsed nor those that are named with any couller of reason and lest of all with authority of scriptures are confuted First he will allow vs but 4. textes of scripture because he will not take paines to wrest any more And those make nothing for vs except all thinges be in euery thinge as Anaxagoras said It should seeme M. Allen that you your selfe dreamed so with Anaxagoras else would you not finde purgatory in euery one of them which we saye is in none of them but rather excluded by them all But who can prescribe the deuill a measure in lying when he is disposed to lye we haue no scriptures at all the Catholikes
conteyned the argument is most inuincible that concludeth negatiuely thus All true doctrine is taught in the Scripture purgatory is not taught in the Scripture therefore purgatory is no true doctrine And this conclusion M. Allen him selfe made of mans authoritie cap. 13. purgatory and prayers for the dead were not preached against at their first entry ergo they are true But of all mens authoritie it is false wheras he sayth we are ouerthrowers destroyers we confesse we are so of all false doctrine and heresie For the word of God is appoynted not only to teach truth but also to ouerthrow error not onely to build faith but to destroy falshood But it is a proper cōceit wherin he pleaseth him self as other of his sect do to tel vs that all our faith standeth vpon negatiues I could frame the Papists as holsome a creede all vpō affirmatiues if they wil receiue it This is more then boyish babling All trueth is to be affirmed all falshood to be denyed Therefore it is not to be loked what is affirmatiue and what negatiue but what is true or false that is affirmed or denyed But to runne through the articles of that creede which he hath framed for vs we truely beleue that man after his fall hath not free will no not aptnes of will to thinke any thing that is good 2. Cor. 3. we beleue truely that a man is not iustified by workes but by faith onely Rom. 3. And yet we beleue that good workes are necessary to be in euery man that is iustified Iac. 2. we beleue that the Church is not alwayes knowne to the wicked vpon earth neither the vniuersall Church seene at all of men because it is in heauen Gal. 4. we beleue that the catholicke Church hath no chiefe gouerner vppon earth but Christ vnto whom all power is giuen in heauen earth Matth. 28. we beleue there are but 2. Sacraments of the new testament baptisme and the Lordes supper instituted by Christ 1. Cor. 10. we beleue that they geue not grace of the worke wrought but after the faith of the receiuer and according to the election of God. 1. Cor. 10. Baptisme is necessary for all Christians to receiue that are not by necessitie excluded from it 1. Pet. 3. Christ is present at his Supper but not after a grosse and caparnaiticall maner but as he was present in Manna to the fathers 1. Cor. 10. There is no sacrifice propitiatory for our sinnes but onely the sacrifice of Christes death once offered for all Heb. 10. There is no priesthood to offer sacrifice propitiatory but only the priesthood of Christ according to the order of Melchizedech Heb. 7. The spirituall priesthood is common to all Christian men and women 1. Pet. 1. we haue an altar of which it is not lawfull for them to eate which serue the tabernacle and other beside we haue none Heb. 13. we call not vpon Sainctes because we beleue not in them for how shoulde we call vpon them in whome we beleue not Rom. 10. There is no prayer for the deade nor purgatory after this life because they that liue vnto Christ dye vnto him and being dissolued are with him Ioan. 17. Christ descended into hell to redeeme vs out of hell by suffering the wrath of God for our sinnes Heb. 5. There is no Lymbus for the fathers were at rest with God where they are now whether we call the place Abrahams bosome or paradise or heauen Luke 16. and 23. 2. Cor. 12. The rest which you adde maye be the beginning of the Popish creede which you maye as you list continue negatiuely or affirmatiuely after this maner God a lone knoweth not the heartes of all men God onely is not to be worshipped and serued for Sainctes haue both the one and the other God onely is not true for the Pope can not erre Christ is not our onely mediator and aduocate for Marie and the Sainctes are also Christes death is not a sufficient redemption for vs for we must satisfie for our selues Christes death hath not taken away both our sinnes and the punishment of them but the Popes padon maye Christ is not onely our high priest according to the order of Melchizedech for euery hedge priest is of the same order Christ hath not made them that are sanctified perfect by a sacrifice once offered for all For y greatest part is lefte to the masse Our sinnes are not freely forgeuen vs by Christ for we must satisfie for them A man is not iustified by fayth without the workes of the lawe for euery man must merite for him selfe The scriptures are not sufficient to teach vs all trueth but we must haue vnwritten verities The worde of God is not of soueraine authoritie for the decrees of the Pope and generall councells be equall with it This is the Papistes creede both in the affirmatiue and in the negatiue But in that you exhort the Papistes to reade Caluins institution and there to see whether he teacheth any truth therein I woulde to God that all Papistes in Englande woulde followe your counsell pray vnfaynedly that God would open there eyes that they may see his trueth if it be taught in that booke 2 This negatiue faith hath no grounde nor confidence of thinges to be hoped for nor any certaintie of such thinges as doe not yet appeare but it is an euident ouerthrowe of all our hope and a very canker of the expectation of thinges to come This faith therefore of these pluckers downe must needes vse a conuenient instrument to destroye and not to builde to plucke vp and not to plante to improue and not to make proofe But what way is that mary by way of negatiue proofe they confirme their negatiue and no faith Purgatory say they nor prayers for the deade be not so much as once named in all the scripture ergo there is neither of them to be beleued VVhich forme of argument serued the Arians against the consubstātiall vnitie of God the father his sonne our Sauiour It helped the Anabaptistes against the baptisme of infantes it was profitable to Heluidius against the perpetuall virginitie of Gods mother and it helpeth all pluckers downe but it neuer serueth a buylder The vanity whereof is so well knowen that I will not stande to talke thereof namely seeing it hath no place in our cause for which we haue brought diuers scriptures all construed by most learned fathers for that sense and some so euident that they droue our aduersaries to the open deniall of the holy canonicall scripture 2 What grounde or confidence of thinges not seene and yet hoped for our fayth hath it is not for infidells to iudge no more then for blinde men to iudge of collours And as for our negatiue argument it is stronger then your affirmatiue error can abide there of groweth the spight But when as you saye we frame our argument of the name of purgatory onely or prayers for
worlde or the next but Christes passion alone the benefit whereof is not by the sufferers will extended to any that sinneth vnto death being able to satisfy for the same As often then as thou hearest any Catholike man affirme purgatory to punish or purge greuous and deadely offenses be assured his meaning of the temporall paine due vnto wicked men and their sinnes after their bonde and debt of euerlasting death with the very faulte it selfe be in Gods Church remitted For as S. Augustine sayth a mortall sinne forgeuen is becomne a veniall trespasse and so deserueth no more paine then a veniall sinne which by transitory punishment may be fully and perfitely released thus he sayth Quaedam enim sunt peccata quae mortalia sunt in poenitentia fiunt venialia non tamen statim sanata There be sinnes sayth he which being deadly of their owne nature be yet by poenaunce made venial though not alwayes straight healed Then by this rule what so euer is spoken of veniall sinnes or the purgation thereof it is ment both by the small offensies which of their owne nature are veniall and also of the greater so that they be forgeuen in Gods Church before whereby they are become veniall as the other and deserue proportionaly as the other and may be taken away as the same man affirmeth either in this worlde or the next by the same remedies as the other though not alwayes so speedely CAP. IX 1 NO maruell but you must crowe like a cocke of the game you haue obtayned such a noble victory out of Origens errour and specially you haue discouerâ—d such a solemne secrete to the yong petits of popery that onely veniall sinnes are clensed by purgatory that they are much beholding to you But lest your kitchen shoulde be colde if none but veniall sinnes should passe through the heate of purgatory you haue found out a sutle shifte howe to bring mortall sinnes also through the same pykes of purgatory for discharge of which you know men will bestow more cost then for release of those that with onely sprinckling of holy water as you wott well may be washed away Therefore mortall sinnes must be remitted in this life and then they may be purged in the fire of purgatory as being now become in the case of veniall sinnes O deepe mysteries reueiled out of the bottomlesse pitt which haue no grounde at all in the word of God but are manifestly ouerthrowne thereby euen from the foundations For the foundation of this doctrine is the distinction of veniall and mortall sinnes whereas the word of God plainly determineth that euery sinne is mortall and deserueth eternall death seeme it neuer so small Cursed is euery one that abideth not in all thinges that are written in the law to fulfill them Deu. 27. The soule that sinneth shall dye Eze. 18. The reward of sinne is death Rom. 6. And as for that distinction which S. Iohn maketh of a sinne to death a sinne not to death hath nothing common with that of the papistes for all sinne that by the mercy of God is pardonable he calleth a sinne not vnto death for which God is entreated that giueth life to them that haue so sinned And that sinne he counteth vnto death which is irremissible as obstinate wilful apostacy Heb. 6. blasphemy against the holy ghost Math. 12. c. for which it is not lawfull io pray Thus by iudgement of Gods word are all sinnes mortall which Papistes call veniall and all that they count mortall by Gods spirite are counted veniall For by the iustice of God all sinnes are mortall but by his mercy they are all pardonable except that sinne vnto death whereof S. Iohn speaketh 1. Ioan. 5. But to returne to M. Allens shift and to examine whether it will satisfie the iudgement of those olde writers which affirme that onely small and light offences are clensed by the fire of purgatory M. Allen sayth mortall sinnes become veniall by remission The Scripture teacheth that sinnes forgeuen are not imputed at all But M. Allens doctrine is that remission of sinnes doth not take sinnes away but onely chaungeth their nature from mortall to veniall yea he is not ashamed to vouch Augustine to warranty as though he should say that a mortall sinne forgiuen is become a veniall trespasse c. If all men were blinde this fellow would play trimly with their noses when he will be so bold with all men that can see Augustines wordes as he citeth them in Latine are these Quaedam enim sunt peccata quae mortalia sunt in poenitentia fiunt venialia that is there are some sinnes which are deadly of their owne nature but by repentaunce they are made veniall I haue translated them as he doth sauing that he calleth poenitentia penaunce which I to auoyd the ambiguitie of the english word as it is taken by the Papistes haue turned repentaunce Nowe is it all one to say that such sinnes as of their owne nature deserue death may yet be pardoned to him that repenteth which is the manifest meaning of Augustines wordes and that which M. Allen fathereth vpon him as though he said a mortall sinne forgeuen is become a veniall trespasse Againe this doctors wordes are playne of light and small offences and not of heynous and great offences that by pardon are made litle offences 2 VVell then to close vp briefely all this haue we founde by these scriptures alleaged that being diuerse degrees of men Purgatory apperteineth but to one sort First not to such as lacke the faith of Christ for they hauing no foundation are allready iudged neither to such as haue not builded vpon the foundatioÌ„ but rather defaced it with workes of death and deuilish doctrine For all these must like widdred branches be cast into the fire not to be purged but vtterly wasted There be yet other that kepe their foundation faste and worke there vpon both golde and siluer but yet abased and somewhat defiled by the mixture of other infirmities not sufficiently redressed in this life these must of necessity by Gods ordinaunce suffer the Purgation by fire that their workes purified and amended by the sentence of his iuste iudgement may at length by mercy and grace bring them to their desired ende Now the perfect estate which hauing this groundewarcke and building therevpon nothing for the most part but the tried fine workes of heauenly doctrine and perfect charity can not feare the fire as in whome it shall finde no matter of waste For if any drosse of seculare desires or worldly weakenesse was in their frailty contracted their fructefull penaunce in their life washed that away by the force of Christes bloude before the daye of our Lorde greate and fearefull came vpon them In which case God will not punish twise for one faulte nor entre into iudgement with such as haue iudged them selues to his hande These therefore thus guarded by Gods grace in whome onely