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
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
daughter of Berosus born in the Metropolis of Chaldaea and later by almost 1700 years Nay he would have thought that the Impostor who had made it so much his business to gain reputation by a cheat of so great antiquity had sufficiently discover'd himself an upstart 1. In deriving Adam from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were a word of Greek extraction 2. In saying that the same word signifies East West South and North by its four letters though in the Hebrew and Chaldee it hath but three 3. In supposing that the letters of the Name of God make up the number of 1697 which cannot be true but onely writing it in Greek characters and that barbarously too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. In drawing from those of the Name of Jesus which he makes to consist of four vowels and two consonants the number of 888. which again cannot agree With the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is onely of five letters all consonants and exceed not the number of 391. unless it be in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. In affirming that the duration of Rome shall be 948 years because the number 948 arises from the Greek letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which make onely 251. 6. In placing Ararat where the Ark stay'd in Phrygia 7. In affirming that Phrygia was the first Countrey discovered after the Deluge and that Noe who continu'd in the Ark from the seventh day of the second Month to the twentieth day of the second Month in the year following stay'd there but one and fourty days 8. In imagining that the Fables of the Titans were true Histories 9. In supposing according to the heresie of the Chiliasts that Jerusalem shall not only be re-built again but shall be the Imperiall seat of the Son of God where the faithfull having pass'd through the purgatory fire of the worlds conflagration shall enjoy all manner of delights corporeall and spirituall 10. In feigning that the Eurotas a River of Laconia in Peloponnesus issues aut of Dodona in Epirus and mingles with the Peneus a river of Thessaly Again that Gog and Magóg are among the Aethiopians 11. In foretelling that the Italians shall become subject to the Asiaticks 12. In maintaining that Nero is the great Antichrist that he is retir'd into Persia and that returning from Babylon with an army of Jews he will destroy Rome and set it on fire 13. In confounding Alexandria with Memphis 14. In feigning that Eliah shall come down from Heaven in a Chariot That Joshuah rais'd again shall restore the Jews That Tyberius was to set upon Persia and Babylon That Trajan a native of Italica in the extremities of Spain was born among the Gauls That Adrian strangled himself with a string That under Antoninus sirnamed the Debonnaire whom he impertinently calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his two adoptive Sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus one whereof must necessarily survive the other would be the end of the world That Rome being destroy'd in the 948. year after its foundation should come to its period in the year of our Lord 195. which was the third year of Severus And lastly after all this in acknowledging himself to be a Christian by these words which absolutely take off all the precedent suppositions And yet we descended from the holy geniture of Christ are called of the same blood For from the consistency of all these remarks this consequence must necessarily â—e deduced that the Impostor who took upon him the name of Noës daughter-in-law and perswaded St. Justin that he was the daughter of Berosus was by Profession a Christian but ignorant of the Hebrew Tongue and true Theologie no less then of Geography and History and that he compiled his Rhapsody between the year 138. wherein Adrian was by death deliver'd of his disease on the twelfth of July and the year 142. or 151. in which Cardinall Baronius with divers others affirm that justin presented his Apology to the Emperor Antoninus and the Caesars his adoptive sons and consequently that this counterfeit piece was just come out of the Mint and was not quite cold when he undertook the dispersing of it and by his example recommended it to Athenagora Theophilus of Antioch Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian the Author of the Work called The Apostolicall Censtitutions Lactantius Constantine the Great Eusebius Optatus Hierom Augustin Prosper Palladius Sozomenus Junilius c who have all drunk out of the common shore of the Sibylline Imposture and that with so little difficulty and so strong a prejudice that nothing could ever offend their stomacks If therefore so many great men and Justin himself who first broke the Ice before them could find any relish in so unsavory a dish and if they have with a kind of emulation serv'd it up and commended it to others with so much assurance as begat an imagination that to express any horrour thereat was to quarrell with God himself who can think it strange that the example of their credulity should be able in as high a measure to injure others CHAP. IV. The judgement of Antonius Possevinus concerning the Wâ—itings pretended to be Sibylline taken into examination IT is no miracle to me if after the antiquity of the first Ages had been circumvented through the excess of their credulous sincerity ours though much refin'd from the scurf of ignorance and forc'd by the necessity of so many difficult experiments to be more cautious and diffident should not be wholly free from the remainders of the same misfortune in so much that we now find there are some very grave men such for instance as Onuphrius Sixtus of Sienna the Cardinalls Baronius and Bellarmine and the Bishop of Norwich Montague enslav'd by the tyranny of the popular errour fortifi'd by length of time and consent of such Christians as are admirers of inveterate opinions Yet can I not but express my dissatisfaction with the judgment of Antonius Possevinus a Divine of the Society of Jesus who having discover'd the Imposture of the Sibylline books hath chosen rather to think them corrupted then supposititious I shall therefore in the first place to make a full discovery of this forgetfulness in him lay down his censure with some observations thereupon and afterwards examine the ground of his Sentiment It is apparent saith he both from the Fathers and other Ecelesiasticall Writers that there was not any Sibyl before Moses to the end the world might know that if in the Oracles publish'd under the name of the Sibyls and compriz'd in eight Books there be any thing relative to what was before the Age of Moses it is counterfeit and false as having been since sown by Satan out of a design that falshood being thrust in together with truth might bring into
for an Enthusiast and make the world believe that the presence of some Celestial virtue produced the same in his mind as the invasion of Satan does in those of possessed persons whom he deprives of their Senses and Transports with fury Nor are we to excuse so extravagant a passion to make any account of those words of the eighth Book Novi ego arenarum numerum mensúmque profundi Tellurisque sinus tenebrosáque Tartara novi Quot fuerint homines quot sint quótque futuri Astrorum numeros stirpes frondés que quot usquam Quot sint quadrupedes quot pisces quótque volucres For besides the impossibility there is to reconcile this insolent brag I know all things with the precedent confession I know not what I say any other way then by attributing it to that alienation of spirit which he would have described when he said I know not what I say it is absurdity enough but to think that the Father of mercies who disposes his gifts with infinite Wisdome and an intention they should tend to the advantage either of those which receive them or others would puff up the heart of any man with the windy knowledg of things absolutely unprofitable such as are those which the Counterfeit Sibyl much glories in For what advantage will it be to mankind or thy self that thou know the number of the Sands of the Leaves of the Fishes c. Will this variety of knowledg make thee any way better or further thee in the way to salvation more then another who shall have learned from the great vessel of Election who had been caught into the third heaven and there heard words not capable of being uttered this admirably-modest protestation I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified If therefore there were nothing else to be quarrelled at in the eight Books of the Counterfeit Sibyl but the insupportable vanity of the Authour it should be more then sufficient to deprive him of his pretended Dignity of Prophet and to condemn his Verses to be blown away as sometimes those of the Cumaean Sibyl disturbed in their order And to the wanton Winds a Sport be made CHAP. XXIII That it was unadvisedly done by the Author of the Sibylline Writings to put himself into the number of the Enthusiasts BUt it may be these insolent Expressions the affectation of Enthusiasin and the other sleights of Imposture are not in the Original and that the Fathers who have had the said Writings in great esteem have not found them therein On the contrary Justine Martyr to satisfie us that he very well knew as much takes particular notice of it and observes them to the Greeks adding to that Discourse of Menon in Plato concerning such as foretell things to come We shall say no less then that those are Prophets and they have Extasies being inspired of God when they become famous for delivering many and great things and know not any thing of what they say the ensuing Application He clearly and manifestly saw into the Oracles of the Sibyl For she had not as the Poets have the power to correct her Poems after she had writ them and to polish them especially as to what concerns the exact observation of Measures but she accomplished what was of her Prophecy during the time of the inspiration and the inspiration failing she no longer remembred the things she had said Hence comes it that all the Verses of the Sibylline Poems were not preserved For we our self being at the City of Cumae understood so much from those who led us up and down and shewed us the places where she spoke her Oracles and a certain Urn made of Brass where they said her Reliques were conserved They also gave us this account as having it from their Predecessours That those who received the Oracle being people without instruction many times failed in the exact observation of measures and said this was the reason why some Verses were without measure viz. that the Prophetess after the Extasie of inspiration was over remembred not the things she had said and that those who writ them by reason of their ignorance had lost the exact measure of the Verses And a little lower Submit to the most antient of all the Sibyls whose Books it is so happened are preserved all the World over and who by Oracles proceeding from a certain powerfull inspiration hath taught you concerning those who are called Gods that they are not such In like manner Constantine introduces the Sibyl making her complaint to God that he imposed upon her a necessity of Divining Suidas for his part makes this Observation of the Chaldaean Sibyl The Prophetess is not her self the cause that her Verses are imperfect and without measure but those who took Copies of them as not keeping close to the impetuosity of her way of delivery and being not well read in Grammar Besides that with the inspiration the memory of the things she had said failed her and for that reason her Verses are imperfect and the sense halting Whether it be that this is come so to pass through the dispensation of God to the end that her Oracles should not be known to many unworthy of them or that length of time hath been the cause of that as well as many other things Besides that it is not to be admired if the obscurity of the things said by the Prophetess and the frequent Transcription of her Books have occasioned the confusion of the sense and measures of the Verses Whereto Marcus Antimachus adds as taking it from Lactantius whom he ridiculously makes Priest of the Capitol converted to the Christian Religion upon reading of the Sibylline Writings That what is to be had of the Sibylline Books is not onely easily slighted by those who are troubled with the disease of the Greeks for that it is easie to recover it for scarce things seem more precious but also is thought not to deserve any credit because there is not an exact measure observed in the Verses Now this is the fault of the Transcribers who were not able to reach the impetuosity of her way of delivery and were not well read in Grammar and not of the Prophetess for when the inspiration was over she no longer remembred the things she had spoken CHAP. XXIV That the Fathers who were surprised by the pretended Sibylline Writings supposed the Authour to have been an Enthusiast IT is manifest then that both the Antient and Modern Christians have been so far from being ignorant or distrustfull of the Enthusiasm of the pretended Sibyl that they have taken it for the fundamental Principle of the Opinion they had of her Poem and been carried away with reports without reserving to themselves as reason would have required the privilege to examine them For First Justin Martyr giving credit to the Discourses of those among the Cumaeans who had shew'd him the Antiquities
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
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
had been admitted to the aetherial Plains and consequently that he was entred into Glory yet recommends it to the Reader 's Devotion to pray for him using these Words Astriferam CAROLI teneat dic spiritus Arcem c. Wish that Charles ' s Soul May be possessed of the Starry Pole That of Pope Sergius II. deceased April the 12th 847. Pro tanto tundamus pectora pugnis Pastore amisso vivat ut axe Poli c. So great a Pastour lost We are to grieve With beaten Breasts that he in Heav'n may live That of Ermengard Wife to the Emperour Lotharius deceased on Friday March the 20th 852. and immediately introduced as the Authour of it observes into the Kingdom of Heaven where she was abundantly filled with the Joy of Christ c. Hanc rogo te Lector commenda ritè Tonanti Assiduis precibus Christus eam ut habeat Cum quo congaudens vivat feliciter ipsa Angelicis semper mista beata Choris c. Reader employ thy daily Pray'rs I crave That Christ with him may Ermengarda have With whom in lasting Joys she may remain A Saint to live amongst the Heav'nly Train Whereupon the Authour to give us a more particular Accompt of his intention adds Has ego Rabanus confeci Versibus Odas Ex obitu maestus ex requie gratulans c. I Rabanus this into Verse have drest Griev'd at her Loss but glad she is at Rest Whence it follows that all he intreated the Reader to desire was not properly the happiness but the continuance and eternity of the happiness of that Princess already glorified with Christ in Heaven Whereto may be added that as Reason requires that the Gratulations whereby we express the good Wishes we have for our Friends be grounded not on the imagination of their future-good but on the advantage they have to be in actual possession of it so the Authour of this Epitaph had had no great reason to congratulate the Rest of the Empress Ermengard if she had not been admitted into it To the same Predicament may be reduced that of the Emperour CHARLES the Bald which after the Authour had observed that he returned his Soul to God that is to say died so piously that Pope JOHN the Eighth said he was in Paradise with the Angels concludes in these Terms Deus excelsus dignetur jungere Turmis Sanctorúmque choris consociare piis c. May the high God to the Saints holy Quires Joyn him That of Pope STEPHEN the Sixth whom the Authour had represented as Triumphantly ascending to Heaven inviting all that should read it to desire pardon for him saying Dicite Fratres Arbiter Omnipotens da veniam Stephano c. Th' Almighty Judge's grace Brethren implore For Stephen And that of Benedict the Fourth deceased in the year 907. following the same Track hath these words which denote the excessive Charity of the deceased Mercatus coelum cuncta sua tribuit c. To purchase Heaven all he had he gave And adds immediately this Advertisement Inspector Tumuli compuncto dicito corde Cum Christo regnes O Benedicte Deo c. Who seest this Tomb say with a contrite Heart May'st thou O Benedict with Christ have part Which Words proceeded not from the Authour out of any design he had to insinuate that Benedict when he uttered them had not yet obtained his part or reigned with God for what can be imagined more absur'd then that God should refuse to crown Charity the greatest of his Gifts and suspend the Effect of his Promises towards those who have as is supposed of Pope Benedict most conscientiously exercised it But his intention was to discover that he thought it not onely lawfull but necessary that the Faithfull surviving should continually desire of God the ratification of the Gifts he had already bestowed on those he had taken to himself According to this Principle which seems to have been common to all Antiquity may be understood in a good sense the Inscription of Amatus's Tomb which runs thus Pro animâ Amati poenitentis hîc sepulti Domini misericordiam deprecari digneris c. Vouchsafe to implore the Mercy of the Lord for the Soul of penitent Amatus here buried But when the Opinion of Purgatory by the Monks management of the Business had a little more prepossessed the minds of People the use of Prayers in Epitaphs became much more frequent then it had been before And as it were easie to produce Centuries of Instances to that purpose as of John Bishop of Nepete deceased October the 31th in the year 770. of Paul Arch-Deacon of Pavia deceased in the year 774. of Alcuin deceased May the 19th 804. of Hincmar Arch-Bishop of Rheims deceased December the 21st 882. of Boson King of Provence deceased January the 11th 887. of Fulk Arch-Bishop of Rheims deceased June the 17th 899. of Pope John IX deceased September the 23d the same year of Pope Anastasius 111. deceased in the year 912. of Pope John XIII deceased September the 6th 972. of Pope Benedict VII deceased July the 10th 984. of Pope John XV. deceased May the 7th 996. of Gebhard Bishop of Constantia deceased August the 27th the same year of Pope Sylvester II. deceased May the 12th 1003. of John surnamed Capanarius deceased October the 12th 1004. of Pope John XIX deceased August the 31. 1009. of Pope Sergius IV. deceased May the 13th 1013. of Pope John XX. deceased November the 8th 1033. of Teresa Sister of Alphonsus v. King of Leow deceased June the 9th 1047. of Geffrey Count of Arles deceased about the year 1052. of Stephen Cardinal deceased in the year 1061. of Peter Damiani Bishop of Ostia deceased February the 23d 1072. of Adam a Monk of St. Victor's deceased in the year 1153 So some might conceive themselves obliged to believe that all the Prayers we read in such Epitaphs were intended onely to this end viz. to deliver the Souls of the departed out of the pretended Purgatory and I am ready to acknowledg that the intention of the Authours many times was or might be such most having especially from the year 900. either embraced or countenanced that new Tenet some upon account of the profit accrewing thereby some upon account of the profit accrewing thereby some because it seemed likely to keep mens Consciences in aw and divert Sinners from their wicked course of Life but this cannot be either said or imagined of all For with what countenance could they have numbred among the Malefactours racked upon the infernal Engines of Purgatory for their Sins either Gebhard whom the Authour of his Life observes to have been conveyed to Heaven by the Hands of Angels and at the time of his Enterment to have wrought Miracles which demonstrated his being glorified by God in Heaven Or Peter Damiani whom in like manner the Authour of his Life affirms to have died on the 23d of February being the Festival day of St. Peter at Antioch to the end that the celestical
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
whether it were so or not which also he but slightly advances as finding it not contributary to ought Impious yet without imposing any necessity to admit it and which in fine he lets pass under a Whether an It may be a Peradventure so that not presuming himself to approve it all the kindness he hath for it is expressed in his telling us that he does not disallow it Fourthly That the very thing which he proposes so doubtfully may be adjusted to the Opinion which the most Antient had had of the general Conflagration of the Universe at the end of the World whose Imagination it was that it should serve as a general Lustration through which the Spirits of the Saints even that of the Blessed Virgin were to pass and who reflected on nothing less then the Purgatory proposed to us at this day Fifthly That though he should assure us that that certain Fire of Grief whereof he speaks shall be a material Fire that it shall burn the Spirits of men and that the Torment which they shall endure thereby shall afflict them from their departure out of the Bodies they had cast off yet should not his assurance be of greater weight to the Protestants then to the Church of Rome which submits not to his Authority but onely in what she finds consistent with her own Opinions land confidently rejects what she quarrels at For if she think it just to dissent from him when he teaches that In the Deity there are three Substances that The Angels are corporeal that The sins of the Fathers make the Children liable to punishment that The souls of all the Departed are between the day of their departure out of this World and that of the Last Judgment shut up in secret Receptacles that the Prayers made for them are beneficial to them to the end that either the Remission may be full or that their Damnation be more tolerable and that those Prayers made on the behalf of the Damned are a kinde of consolation to the â—iving all which things the said Holy Prelate positively affirms why should she take it ill that after her Example we should refuse absolutely to depend on his Authority especially in a subject wherein he does not pretend any in as much as it is his own acknowledgment that he was not resolved what he should should hold What greater Necessity is there that we should determine for the Affirmative when he himself makes it a Question Whether there be after this life a Purgatory for the Spirits of the Deceased then when he doubts Whether the Sun Moon and Stars belong to the society of the blessed Spirits in Heaven Though we had read no other Lecture of Modesly then the reservedness which prevailed with him to forbear resolving ought upon these two Questions do we not deserve commendation for having in imitation of him kept the Scales in our Hands rather then Blame which we must never expect to avoid if without pregnant Proof we affirmed what he proposed onely Problematically and without any decision If it may with any colour be pretended that the Bent of his inclination was the Affirmative of a Purgatory of some kinde or other and that it should be a Pattern for us to do the like why should not his confidence in denying the Antipodes force us by a like Negative to dispute against our own Experience whose Testimony for these 150. years assures us he was mistaken Were it not much better that those who would make use of his Name in a Cause he never maintained should behave themselves according to his Moderation and protest with him I would if it might be or rather I will if it may be be overcome by the Truth which is not openly repugnant to the sacred Scriptures in as much as that which is repugnant to them cannot in any sort be either called or accompted Truth I therefore intreat them in the fear of God to take it into their serious Consideration First Whether it be possible their Belief such as they propose it to us can be the same with that of St. Augustine who never for ought we could ever learn determined in the Affirmative of any Purgatory much less of that which the Monastical Revelations have furnish'd us with in despight of the most Venerable Antiquity but hath expresly declared by his Sermons that he acquiesced in the common Sentiment of the Church of his Time which held that those whom God calls to himself are Translated at their Death either into the actual enjoyment of their Felicity or confined in the Place of their eternal Punishment To this Effect does he express himself to his Church upon the eleventh Chapter of St. John Receptus est Pauper receptus est Dives sed ille in sinu Abrahae ille c. The Poor man was received the Rich man was received but the former into Abraham ' s Bosom the later where he should be thirsty and not finde a drop of Water the souls of all men therefore that I may hence take occasion to instruct your Charity all souls have after their departure out of this World their several Retreats the Good are in Bliss the Wicked in Torments c. The rest which is given immediately after Death whoever is worthy of it receives it immediately when he Dies And upon the First of St. John Ille qui vixit mortuus est c. He who hath lived is also dead his Soul is transported into other places his Body is disposed into the Ground whether those words viz. those of his Last Will be put in execution or not it does not concern him he does he endures quite another thing he either rejoyces in Abraham ' s Bosom or in eternal Fire prays for a little Water I know Cardinal Bellarmine either thought or pretended to think that all could be deduced from those Words was that the Souls of the Faithfull are immediately after their Departure out of this World gathered into rest in as much as assured of their eternal Salvation and that thence they derive great Joy but that to some it is not given without the admixture of Temporal Pains But I maintain that his Commentary is a formal corruption of the Text to which he applies it in as much as S. Augustine gives us to observe therein as things immediately opposite the Good and the Wicked the Joy of the former in Abraham's Bosom and the Torments of the later in eternal Fire so that as the Torment of these is an absolute Privation of Joy and Rest so the Joy and Rest of the other is necessarily an absolute exemption from Torment Besides I do not see how long any can number among those who rejoyce and are in Bliss the Spirits of such as are supposed to suffer more then could be suffered in this Life and much less how the Believer dead in the Lord receives when he dies his Rest and Joy if he be then
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
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 we are made partakers of their Dignity that they are to be honoured by way of imitation and not adored upon any religious accompt In a word that neither the Blessed Virgin Mother of our Saviour nor any of the Saints of either Sex can pretend to any part of that religious homage Saint Epiphanius one of the most earnest maintainers of Prayer for the Dead hath left to them and the whole Church of these last times these remarkable Precepts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Indeed the Body of Mary was holy but it was not God the Virgin was indeed a Virgin and honoured but she was not given us to be adored on the contrary she adored him who was begotten of her as to the flesh c. If God will not have the Angels to be adored how much rather will he not that she who was born of Ann should be c. God came from Heaven and the Word was clad in flesh taken from the holy Virgin but the Virgin is not adored c. Let Mary be honoured but let the Father Son and Holy Spirit be adored Let no man adore Mary though Mary be excellent and holy and honoured it is not that she should be adored c. Let Mary be honoured but let the Lord be adored But not to press any further this notorious defect which we finde at present in the Service of the Greeks we are to observe that among them the Office of the Dead is full of Prayers whereby is desired as in the Latine Service the mercy of God the remission of the sins of the deceased his absolution his blessed resurrection his introduction into rest into Abraham ' s Bosom into the Mansion of the blessed into refreshment into Paradise into the Tabernacle of God into his Kingdom glory light to the right hand of the great Judge into the Society of the Saints and Angels all which Expressions according to the Hypotheses of Antiquity may be applied to the Spirits already received into glory Which is so much the more evident for that the particular Office which concerns the Obsequies of Children is full of these Prayers that God would number the deceased among the Children to whom he hath promised his Kingdom that he would place him among the just who are acceptable in his sight that he would make him partaker of the good things which are above this World that he would let him enter into the joys of the Saints that in his holy Mountain he would gratifie him with celestial goods that he would write his name in the Book of those who shall be saved that he would make his face to shine upon him that he would lodge him in Abraham ' s Bosom that he would grant him the enjoyment of his Kingdom c. Yet were not these Desires made without a presupposition of his Beatitude as First when it is said to him He who hath taken thee from the Earth and gives thee place among his Saints shew◠that thou O truly blessed Childe art a Citizen of Paradise The Sword of Death falling on thee hath cut thee off as a tender Branch O blessed art thou who hast made no tryal of worldly pleasures but behold Christ opening the Gates of Heaven to thee numbring thee◠out of his great goodness among the Elect◠Secondly When he is brought in making this Discourse Why do you bewail me a Childe translated out of the World for I am not a Subject to be bewailed The joy of all the just is required for those Children who have not done works worthy Tears Thirdly When he acknowledges that Death is a freedom to Children that they are thereby exempted from the miseries of life and that they are gone to rest that they rejoyce in Abraham ' s Bosom in the divine Quires of Blessed Children and assuredly dance because their departure hence was a deliverance from the corruption which loves sin If then the Ritual of the Creeks be full of Prayers for the Children whom they unanimously acknowledge to be among the Blessed what inconvenience can there be to attribute to them that they had the same apprehension for persons of age of whose felicity they no way doubted But though reason should not lead us to think so yet does their formal confession obliges us to believe as much for there is not any deceased person for whom they say not to God Mercifully receive the faithfull person departed who hath holily quitted this life and is O Lord passed towards thee and whose Funeral Solemnities they do not conclude saying to him three several times Our Brother worthy to be ever blessed and always remembred thy memory is eternal To every Monk without any exception they address these words Brother thè way thou art in is that of bliss for that a place of rest is prepared for thee adding to that purpose the sixteenth Verse of the one hundred and sixteenth Psalm Return unto thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath dealt kindly with thee and a little after He who is taken hence hath passed through the ever-troubled Sea of Life and by Faith is arrived at his Port conduct him O Christ with the Saints into thy tranquillity and ever-living pleasures In like manner to every Priest Thou hast piously signalized thy self in Faith Charity Hope Gentleness Purity of life and in the Sacerdotal dignity and therefore O Brother of eternal memory God who is before all Ages whom thou hast served will himself dispose thy Spirit into a place full of light and pleasure where the just are in rest and will make thee obtain of Christ at the day of Judgment pardon and great mercy And the deceased Person is introduced using these words I am now at rest and have found great favour for that I have been transferred from the corruption of life glory be to thee O Lord c. Thy divine Servant Deified in his Transportation by thy now-enlivening Mystery is come towards thee To every Woman departed Detain not any longer O malicious Hell the Souls of the Elect in the condemnation of the Transgression for all being now made assuredly conformable to Christ instead of Death receive divine life In a word she is made to say the same words as had been attributed to the Priest I am now at rest c. All these Confessions grounded on the Lessons of Scripture which for the most part contain assurances of the Love of God towards those who serve him and promises of their future Beatitude and glorious Resurrection demonstratively prove that the first Compilers of the Greek Office agreeing in what is most substantial with the Protestants believed that whoever dies in the Faith of the Lord does from the moment of his Death enjoy rest and glory in him and with him But for as much as from time to time the purity of belief and worship receiving adulteration among them there rose up a sort of people apt to feign any