twentieth Accompt That the practise of the Church as far as it's words make known it's sense favours the ancient opinion FOr the last attempt they reserve the Practise of the Church which can neither deceive nor be deceived And this they drive on with great fury and clamour partly from the prayers which are said for the Dead partly from the concession and acceptation of Indulgences wherein their valour gains so much applause that it is worth our pains to give it a check Our first encounter shall be to demand of them when they talk of the Ecclesiastical Practise which do they mean an universal or a particular one Again if an universal one whether they intend only a present Universality or an universality including also the ancient practise If they admit an universality of place as they needs must if they will conclude any thing for otherwise by their own confession it will amount but to a probable that is fallible argument let them demonstrate to me that the practise they contend for either anciently was or at present is in the Grecian Church Sure I am neither in the Florentine Councel nor in the Union of the Armenians nor in the Profession of Faith prescribed by Urban VIII to the Oriental Churches any thing is expressed from whence this Doctrine may be deduc'd In like manner as to point of time it is evident that before S. S. Gregory and Bede there was no such notorious Practise even in the Roman Church and consequently that it became not general till after Odilo about six hundred years agoe But such a Practise no way deserves the title of Universal according to Time The question then is devolved to the Western Church for the four or five last ages for the universality cannot be stretch'd higher since the practise appears to have taken it's rise from the Devotions of the Clugniac Monks and the effect of those Devotions that is Revelations springing from them whereas before it was rare if not unknown Our next quaere is what they mean by practise For my part to avoid ambiguity I divide it into that of actions and of expressions both which if they apparently favour what we have delivered then is our adversaries last effort as in-effectual as the former The Churche's expressions are visible in her Missalls Rituals and Breviaries by which if I stand condemned I willingly yeild the cause To begin with the sequence of Dies irae Dies illa is it not throughout of the day of Judgment and the deliverance which is then to be made What else hath the Offertory Lord Jesus Christ King of glory free the souls of the faithful departed from the pains of Hell and the profound Lâ—ke free them from the Lions jawes that Hâ—ll may not devour them nor they fall into darkness but let the holy Ensign-bearer Michael conduct them into that happy light which thou hast heretofore promised to Abraham and his seed Thus far in general for all the Dead then in particular We offer up to thee O Lord sacrifices and thanksgiving prayers receive them for those souls which we this day commemorate grant them O Lord to pass from Death to Life These are the Church's prayers which to a Catholick what can they signifie but the examination and sentence of the last Judgment After the person is dead and that prayers begin to be said for him where is he in danger to perish but in the last Day If then the Church prayes not for what is past which seems to be unprofitable it prayes not for any other delivery of the Dead then what is to be in that final Judgment I easily foresee it may be objected that the Dead have in reality no incertitude or hazard even in that Day wherefore these Prayers must on both sides be acknowledged to have their improprieties My answer is twofold First in our way we coyn not a new Metaphor but prosecute that which Christ and Holy Scriptures have furnished us with For if they have styled it a Judgment not in order to an investigation or disquisition of things doubtful for what can be obscure when God himself is judg but meerly to signifiy the effect of the said Judgment that is the respective destribution of rewards and punishments to good and bad which then is made is it not evident that the Ecclesiastical manner of speech that it may be conformable to the sacred and Traditionary expressions must speak as it were of a dubious sentence whilst there is yet an affection to or expectation of punishment or reward These speeches then signifie just the same as if the Church should plainly say suffer them not to be cast into Hell but grant them eternal happiness And so is that particle also to be understood of passing from Death of life Though there be also another way in which the souls in Purgatory when they become partakers of the Beatifical Vision may not improperly be said to pass from Death to Life For those souls having according to what hath been explicated an impediment in themselves debarring them from true life which is perfect Beatitude clearly if death be opposite to life they are truely said to pass from death to life when they are freed from their sins and that impediment I am not ignorant that Divines taking it from the Lawyers suppose in these souls a certain Right to Beatitude by which they are rendred partakers of life But these expressions abuse us when besides an allegory we expect propriety in them Nor indeed doth right to a thing make a man owner of it but right in the thing and in reality those holy souls have not right to life but seeds of it to wit the faith of Christ which works by charity and which assuredly will through the last judgment fructifie to life eternal As then sâ—ea is not yet reckon'd among things living but dead so these souls also But we must observe the word dead hath a double sense being propounded abstractedly and privatively The damned are privatively dead because all possibility or root of eternal life is extinguished in them but those in Purgatory are only dead because they have not yet obtained life My second answer is that speeches of this kind are altogether inexplicable according to the contrary opinion which is a certain note that they mistake the Churches sense For proof hereof it were enough to charge them with it and put them to the trial But I can produce the express confession of an Author voluminous enough to appear great amongst them who paraphrasing upon the above cited words excuses their form Because saith he those who pray often use expressions which they are altogether ignerant what they signifie or whither they tend But surely the Rituals sufficiently declare whither these speeches tended Make him worthy by the assistance of thy Grace to escape the Judgment of revenge who living was signed with the seal of the Trinity Again Let us pray for
as little need we be sollicitous Let prayers let good works from henceforth cease Why so Because all things are accomplished by vertue of their being so decreed This they confess but they will not have us pray for those things which we are certain will come to pass We are still where we were For how ignorant soever we are whether what we ask be predestinated or no yet are we satisfi'd that unless it be predestinated we shall not obtain it We know then that only which is predestinated shall come to pass and consequently it alone is worth our asking So that the Apostle doth not vainly exhort us to endeavour by good works to render our Vocation and election certain that is to take care to put it in execution The errour then of the Argument or Arguer consisted herein that he so look'd upon the effect as predestinated that he saw not its causeâ— or the means by which it should come to pass were also predestinated So that pure Inadvertency begat this objection And from hence we may have an easie step to the other part of the Argument For when they urge that nothing ensues upon the account of their prayers for the Dead we reply all depends upon them For if their delivery from their pains whensoever it happens be a requital of their supplications and that delivery be nothing else then the communication of glory and celestial joyes all this is in the day of Judgment granted to their Prayers What then shall they have any thing more then what their pious conversation in this life promerited Not at all Behold the Riddle A great Lord saith to his servant behave thy self faithfully in my house seven years and at the marriage of my son I will make thee steward of his family The servant dischargeth his duty is he therefore Comptroler of his young Lord's house No unless his Master be first married He then that shall procure a Match for the young Gallant shall do a good office for the old servant and deserve great thanks at his hands So he that is chastised in Purgatory did in his life deserve to receive a reward at the coming of Christ but that Christ should come he did not deserve For that as it is an universal good so is it due to the merits and supplications of all and not of any one Particular For this reason it was answered to the souls of the slain resting under the Altar and crying out to have that day hasten'd that it depended upon the rest who had not yet suffered but were to compleat the number Whosoever then desires and loves the coming of our Lord either for his own sake or any others as every one does who prayes for the retribution of the dead accelerates that day And thus you see that the time which was said to be predestinated will notwithstanding never arrive till the number of the elect be perfected From whence it follows that whatsoever is predestinated so obtains the stability of it 's immutable arrest the liberty and contingency of second causes by which it is brought about not impeding that if any one of them should fail that very thing which we term predestinated could not come to pass And applying this assertion to our present purpose if Prayer should not be made for the Dead they would never be deliver'd notwithstanding the irresistible force of predestination through the imbecillity of causes by which their delivery is promoted He that prayes then supplies what was wanting to the sufferings of the departed without which supplement they could not be saved They reply this supposed it is all one to this particular friend departed whether fewer or more prayers are said for him since the last day will break assoon to one as to another It is answered they cannot deny but at least he who is the occasion that more prayers are offered to that intent hath as it were a greater right to that day then he for whom fewer are offered Whence to him it will arrive more grateful and honourable then to the other who less contributed to its advance But besides these pious offices and affections of others towards him being known by the person departed whom they concern beget a disposition in his soul by which when time shall serve his love to God and consequently his Beatitude shall be encreased Moreover by way of impetration they become occasions to the Divine Providence of so disposing many things which otherwise would be differently ordered that in the day of Harvest they may inlarge his either essential or accidental happiness If any thing of this happens through the good deeds of the person himself departed it is to be accounted amongst his merits or the rewards due to his merits but if such prayers spring not from any root which he himself did whilst living plant but purely from the charity of some propitious persons they are an effect of God's Providence whose mercies are numberless One objection only remains unanswer'd That this is not the thing which those who pray and are solicitous for their dead do look for But neither ought we regard what they expect but what they ought to expect The Apostle only admonishes us not to be afflicted as those who have no hopes but to retain and cherish an expectation of re-enjoying their society and that in the resurrection Yet if the metaphorical explications of fire and other pains be found more proper to excite affections then the truth metaphisically deliver'd use them if you please so you keep your self within the bounds which the Councels and Fathers have set viz. that souls are punished and by prayers relieved but for the time when this takes effect leave it as they do undetermin'd Are you still unsatisfi'd and urge an immediate releasment I am contented let it be the very next moment after your prayer For whatsoever time intervenes betwixt it and the restauration of the world is to them but as one moment If you still repine and fret I may with juster indignation protest you are not only ignorant but envious of their sublime state and condition which exalts them above the reach of time In fine if I be thought the occasion of restraining the profuse abundance of Alms in this particular I shall withall have the satisfaction to have check'd the daily increasing swarms of unworthy Priests who qualified neither with knowledg nor good manners live like droans upon this stock to the disgrace and contempt of their function to the abuse of souls and the common scandal both of those who live in and out of the Church Catholick Faith shall from henceforth be no longer the subject of the derision of externs whilst her children vainly labour to defend against Hereticks those things which have neither ground nor proof but are introduced from the customary expressions of Law-Courts and exchanges not from the Language of Nature or Christian Tenets But of this enough The three and
the sight of God That which puts God to inflict punishment not to better the creature but to revenge himself That which violates all Philosophy by confounding the natures of Spirit and Body That which makes the evil of pain spring not from the sinful defects of creatures but from the all-good-Will of God That which is impossible to be maintain'd but by legitimating extrinsecal imputation which is fundamentally opposite to Catholicism That which by making Purgatory not purge at all destroyes it's very notion and nature and makes even it's name breath contradiction Hath I say that Doctrine which is the ground of these and innumerable other absurdities no appearance of falshood And lastly as for their uncertainty is there so much as one Demonstration pretended on their behalf by their Patrons Or are they or any part of them of the substance of the Church's Doctrine If unawares they affirm it let them or at least the whole world besides take notice how a passionate affection to make good their credit and the reputation of their Authors transports them to destroy and violate at once the whole rule of Christian Faith and so become more fatal to the cause they own then all the enemies it ever had or can have that Rule of Faith I say which admits nothing as such into it's sacred liâ—t but what universal tradition assures us to have been unanimously deliver'd by our respective immediate fore-fathers as deliver'd by the Apostles as reveal'd by Christ But God be thanked they do not they cannot they dare not They confess at last that nothing of all this is of Faith that is that all is but probable that is possible to be otherwise that is uncertain that is expresly prohibited by the Church whose commands if Duty prompt them not to obey I know no sweeter force then that of Reason to compel them I come now to the second point the advantage of those who are heterodox and their farther abalienation from the Catholick Communion the reduction of whom I conceive to have been the Author's I am sure is my principal intention Can any one lay a greater slumbling-block in their way then is the confounding of Faith with Opinion certainty with uncertainty Can on the contrary any thing more invite a rational and well-meaning Protestant then throughly to observe how the great latitude in opinion amongst Catholicks establishes and confirms the unity of their Faith How impossible it is that any new Tenet should creep out of one Catalogue into the other whilst every minute question is ventilated with so much contention and scrutinie whilst the Almighty Providence makes use of the animosities of Thomist and Scotist Jansenist and Jesuit to demonstrate that what such dissenting Brethren perfectly agree in must have a higher principle then human invention let all those whom education or perhaps the indiscreet zeal of school men hath hitherto abused understand in Gods name that the Church as a Church has no partiality no adhesion to no obstinacy for any opinion whatsoever She is the Guardian of saith she permits none to add to or detract from the Divine truths committed to heâ— custody but admits all into her tuition who acknowledg them Let them look to it who see other bounds for my part I shall ever value that excellent Analysis of our learned Patriot Dr. Holden now as I hear happily rendered into his native language wherein that it may flourish more vigorously he hath lopp'd off and segregated all circumstantial excrescencies from the stock of Faith beyond all the nice productions of the Schools Thus much I have thought good to say in my own vindication One word more in behalf of the book it self and I have done It hath been wondered at by some and look'd on as an argument of it's falling short of the evidence it promiseth that in five years time it hath gained no greater applause or rather that in the way of Demonstration it hath not been able in that time to silence all opposition I shall say nothing of the progress it hath made but only desire thee Reader to reflect that the satisfaction of those who love science is ever silent and within themselves the opposition of those that seek it noâ— for the most part clamorous and disquieting others as well as themselves May it be thy fortune to farewell and hold thy peace To the most Reverend F. in Christ RICHARD Ld. Bishop of Calcedon MY LORD I Was much perplext when it was told me that some censure was past upon my poor Works by your Lp whose Ecclesiastical Government for so many years of the Catholick part of England hath deservedly so much influence upon our faith whose most innocent life exercised with continual fears at home and combats abroad hath begot in us a Veneration of your Dictates but above all whose many and excellent writings in defence of Catholick Tradition and neer fourscore years exhausted in perpetual study render your Judgment to us new-men of this Age as it were an oracle of Antiquity I was therefore about to apologize and beg pardon for my too much precipitation But your Lord-ships assurance by letter dated Jul. 6. 1652. that you had pass'd no censure at all and in effect the non-appearance of any such thing satisfy'd me of the unnecessariness of that pains It was a fiction contrived by the envy of some narrow Hearts and propagated by the unwary credulity of such as took all for Gospel which they said You declar'd that you had no other thoughts then so to dissent from my opinion as Divines without the least breach of Charity are laudably wont to do But yet even thus the weight of so great an Authority overburthen'd me and forc'd me to seek some support for my innocence And I would to God you had been pleas'd to remark in your Letter whatsoever you dislik'd of mine I would have spar'd no pains to give your Lord-ship satisfaction in every particular now I have singled out one point but that which being in every one's discourse I thought I could least be deceived in Be you Judg my Lord whether without the suffrages of the ancient Fathers or against the sence of the sacred Scriptures or unassisted by the Maximes of true Theology I have undertaken what may seem exotick to this Age we live in If I clear my self that I have opposed none of these as I am not ambitious of Victory so I despaire not of Pardon However it may succeed you have an ACCOMPT by detail as less subject to deceipt of my Stewardship Please you cast it up and if you find it Just give your Blessing to him who prostrates himself at your knees in quality of MY LORD Your Lordships most humble and most obedient servant THO. WHITE THE TABLE OF ACCOMPTS ACCOMPT I The introduction and state of the Question Pag. 1 II. Two proofs front the sacred Scripture favouring the truth we advance Pag. 7 III. Three other Texts and by occasion of the
contrary impressions This in the resurrection is performed by a twofold operation of fire one corporeal which aptly disposes the matter of bodies for the ministry of Angels and the reunion with their spirits the other spiritual to wit the judgment of Christ that is the bodily and mental intuition of him which transferrs the dispositi on of souls from the distortion acquired by the commerce of the body into that state which is the immediate aptitude for beatifical vision In this we conceive to consist the remission of pains or as the Scripture terms it sins for the procuring whereof in due time we acknowledg the efficacy of the prayers of Saints either such as are already glorifi'd or such as daily press on towards that happiness These to my best apprehension are the summary heads of both opinions Now to the work it self The Second Accompt Two Proofs from the sacred Scripture favouring the truth we Advance IN the very front whereof I fix two evident testimonies of the sacred Writ The first from 2 Mach. 12. where the discourse is that Judas Machabeus sent mony to Hierusalem to procure sacrifices for the sins of his Soldiers slain in battel the holy Writer testifying that he did this act Well and religiously thinking of the resurrection for unless saith he he had hoped they should rise again it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead For vain the Greek Text hath {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} foolish or ridiculous It appears that even then when this book was written the errour of denying the resurrection had insinuated it self amongst the Jews by the commixtion of Gentiles so that the Writer was oblig'd to reprove it by occasion of this signal action of Machabeus His argument runs thus 'T is certain saith he that Prayers cannot avail the dead unless there be a resurrection But as by this illustrious Example of Machabeus we learn Prayers do avail them Therefore there must be a resurrection We affirm that from this Text it is easily convinc'd that souls before the resurrection are not delivered from their Purgatory-sufferings or State For if they are our prayers working that haypy effect it were great benefit and great wisdome to pray for them though there were never to be any resurrection Either the sacred Writer therefore is mistaken or they who free such souls before the resurrection Nor is their conjecture of any moment who suppose it may be therefore said unless he had hoped they should rise again because the denyal of the resurrection would have at once destroy'd the beliefe of the immortality of the soul at least as to the Jews first because 't is known that the Heathens by whose conversation the Jewish tenents were corrupted did many of them admit souls to be immortal notwithstanding they deny'd the resurrection of bodies and secondly because this explication is too frank and voluntary engaging a Writer without the least ground against an opinion which whether it had at that time any assertors is altogether unknown and that at the peril of making a frivolous consequence and the assuming a proposition in it self false Nor doth it advantage them to alledg that the Sadduces against whose Progenitors this disputation may be thought to be levell'd deny'd spirits The Stoicks did the like yet at the same time they acknowledged the soul's supervivency and transanimation after the decay of the body Clearly therefore if souls may be exempted from their suffering before the resurrection this proposition It is superfluous and vain to pray for the dead unless there be a resurrection is both false and to no purpose alledged Let the New Instrument keep time and harmony with the Old Let S. Paul be heard preaching to the same effect 1 Cor. 15. 29. What shall they do saith he who are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not again to what end are they baptized for the dead Some understood by baptizing affliction or mortification of the body others a certain ceremony of washing themselves for the dead which way soever you take it his discourse is the same with that of the Writer of the Machabees Where that Writer affirms it were superfluous to pray for the dead the Apostle cryes out What shall we do what benefit shall they reap how will they be dejected seeing themselves depriv'd of the hopes of assisting their friends What the one calls vain or foolish the other phrases To what end are they baptized what do they mean what do they aime at nothing they are fooles or mad men It is therefore apparent that pious and wise persons used this custome whatever it were of baptizing themselves whose action and example the Apostle commending it urgeth as of sufficient authority again the Corinthians Nor nâ—â—d wâ— further strain the nerves of this discourse it being perfectly the same with the first Text to wit that it were folly to be baptiz'd for the dead if they were not to rise again No benefit therefore is obtain'd by such Baptisme before the resurrection nor by so doing can the souls till then be released So that from this argument it appears that the solution offered to the first was of no consequence for no man that I know alledges that the Doctor of the Gentiles disputes here against the Sadduces with whom his arguments would not have any force at all For neither would they regard the Example of those who baptized themselves in behalf of the dead as being Pharises neither would what the Apostle urgeth of Christ's resurrection or his own predication make any the least impression in them Let these two Texts therefore remain inviolabled as first not to be resisted without manifest violence and secondly as directly pointing at the very knot of the controversie That souls once engaged are not capable of that eminent good of being delivered from their pains before the resurrection The Third Accompt Three other Texts and by occasion of the third an explication of the ancient practice of the Church in praying for the Saints LEt us from the same Epistle to the Corinthians 5. 5. adde a positive proof to two negative ones already alledged I saith the Apostle have already judged to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord He speaks of excommunicating a notorious fornicator that he might be made penitent and by repentance saved But when In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ His soul therefore was not to be saved till the last Judgment day But why not his as well as any others No soul therefore imperfectly and as it were compulsively repenting shall be saved till the day of Judgment Consonant and ally'd to this is that text Heb. 10 27. Sinning voluntarily after knowledg received of the truth we have now no other host or oblation left for sins but a certain terrible expectation of judgment in the interval of it
and rage of fire when it shall come which shall consume the adversaries the Greek text hath it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} ready or about to eate those who are partly opposite not to consume but feed upon or gnaw them that is to take off the depraved affections of such as dye with an imperfect repentance He that denies this to be the Apostles meaning let him side with Novatus in rejecting lapsed penitents or fancy an extrajudicial remission contrary to the Apostle's design In the third place I cite the 2 Tim. 1. 8. Where the Apostle thus prayes for Onisiphoris Our Lord grant him to find mercy from our Lord in that day An Heretick may perhaps smile at the allegation of this text to justifie prayer for the dead and pretend a great difference between praying for those who are living that they may be saved after their departure and praying for their salvation who are already departed But I shall entreat him to reflect more advisedly on the expression Was it not said that he may find mercy in that day Is not that day confessed to be the day of judgment Let us consider Onisiphorus now dead will you affirm that he hath already found that mercy which the Apostle prayes he may find in the day of judgment Why do you hesitate If now he hath receiv'd it how shall he then find it If he have not yet receiv'd it the wish of the Apostle is not yet accomplished It hangs therefore still in suspence and if so may be reiterated and if it may be reiterated then must it be lawful to pray for the dead For Prayer is ever seasonable till the effect be granted and consequently prayer for the dead is from hence also cleerly proved But methinks I see our modern pretenders to Divinity full and longing to be delivered of this objection That if effectually this be so we must pray for the Saints also they being to obtain likewise a great advantage by that day as in our Sacred Institutions may appear which notwithstanding any one may perceive to differ from the common practice of the whole Church I am not of so weak a stomach as not to digest this morsel What do you expect I should reply That S. Paul presum'd Onisiphorus should not be happy before the last day whereas himself desired to be immediately dissolved and dismissed to the enjoyments of Christ I dare not How then Shall I say he prayed not that Onisiphorus might find mercy even after his soul was beatify'd The Text on all sides confess'd forbids me What then will our Adversaries say this was not to pray for the blessed Common sense permits them not S. Paul did it Antiquity did it Let S. James be our first witness in his Liturgy of the Hierosolymitan Church Be mindful saith he Lord God of the spirits and all their bodies whem we have commemorated or not commemorated who were Orthodox from the just Abel to this present day Thou grant them there to rest in the region of the living in thy Kingdome in the delights of Paradice S. Basil's Liturgy Be mindful also of all who have slept in the hope of a resurrection to life everlasting S. Chrysostom's Liturgy For the memory and remission of their fins who were the founders of this habitation worthy of eternal memory and of all who have slept in thy Communion in the hope of resurrection and life eternal our Orthodox Fathers and Brethren The Liturgy of S. Mark that is of Alexandria Give rest O Lord our God to the souls of our Fathers and Brethren who have slept in the faith of Christ mindful of our Ancestors from the beginning of the world Fathers Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Bishops Saints and just men all the souls of those who departed in the faith of Christ And moreover of those whose memory this day we celebrate and our holy Father Mark the Evangelist who taught us the way of salvation To the souls of all these give rest our suprâ—me Lord and God in the holy Tabernacles in the Kingdome bestowing on them the good things thou hast promised c. And he concludes To their souls I say grant rest and admit them to the Kingdome of Heaven Lastly The Romane or Gregory the Great 's Liturgy from whom it seems at last to have received its full perfection Remember also O Lord thy servants who have gone before us with the sign of faith and now rest in the sleep of peace To them O Lord and all that rest in Christ we beseech thee grant a place of ease and lighâ— and peace The sense is plain and obvious that he prayes for all who were baptized and departed in the Communion of the Church I am not ignorant that Liturgies from the bare consideration of antiquity have not that force which other writings of the same Authors have since as they are of publick use so can we not almost doubt but somethings in them might by succeeding prelates of the same Churches by additions or diminutions be altered as it were of course But give me leave withal to observe that this defect is more then supply'd by their being the publick instruments of Churches the Doctrine which in so many Liturgies is delivered being justly to be accounted as the constant tenet of all ages unless so great an authority can from elsewhere be undermined Let us then argue thus So many Patriarchal Churches continually in their publick Liturgies beseech God in general terms to give salvation to all the faithful departed assigning them a place of ease light and peace and where none are excepted all are included and in our case eminent Saints particularly named as it were by foresight and obviation to this objection We cannot therefore doubt but that prayer was anciently offered for the Blessed But let us consider more particularly The Hierosolymitan Church is by origine the chief she beginning from the just Abel cannot certainly be supposed to exclude any other and Cyril the heir of S. James in his fifth Catechesis will assure us she did not Next saith he for the holy Fathers and Bishops departed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and of all universally who are dead from amongst us The Church of Alexandria was second to the Roman she pray'd for the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and by name S. Mark S. Chrysostome or the Constantinopolitan Church prayed for the Builders of the said Church whether by that appellation intending the Apostle of Constantinople or the Fabricators or endowers of the material Church however we cannot reasonably doubt but he esteemed them Saints and enjoying God and himself commends this Liturgy in many of his Homilies The expressions of other Churches speaking in common may well by the determinations of these be understood literaily as they sonnd and not with restriction to any particulars as also Dionysius Areopagita Clemens Romanus Greg. Nazianzene c. in whom those universal
I conceive him to speak indefinitely not intending that any one in particular remaines doubtful whether she shall be happy or otherwise but that all are not to be happy but some happy some miserable The place is taken out of the 10. Chapter of his Book De bono mortis where treating more at large of this Doctrine he seemes to explain this part of his opinion in this sort Therefore whilst the plenitude of time is expected saith he the souls waite their just remuneration some shall have punishment some glory Besides what he had before affirmed of the soul of Valentinian Gratian Theodosius and his Brother gives ample satisfaction concerning his Judgment To which you may adde if you please out of his 59. Epistle de obitâ— Acolij he sees perpetual light without a Sun now face to face And in Com. Ep. ad Philip Thinking it better to be present with God And on 1 Cor. Ep. 13. The Saints going out of this world shall behold him as he is Theophilact's speech is likewise somewhat difficult maintaining the Saints to have yet obtained nothing of the celestial promises But S. Chrysostom's piety which he adheres to relieves him giving us occasion to understand by Celestial those promises which are to be accomplished in Heaven and which Oecumenius calls the term or period of goods S. Chrysostom himself declares that the souls unless the body rise again shall remain excluded from the Celestial Beatitude that is shall indeed have its happiness but not that which makes or followes it's place in Heaven So that at last it appears to have been not a famous Doctrine of the Fathers of the Church but an infamous calumny against them to impose upon them the denyal of the sight of God before the universal resurrection S. Bernard alone neither having nor seeking an Example ventured to assert it for as to John XXII since his writings are not extant we cannot legally pasâ— sentence upon him The Fifth Accompt The Fifth proof from Scripture is again urged and two others added NOtwithstanding all which I should think my pains well rewarded if I could learn the reason why the holy Doctors with so much earnestness have inculcated to us the rewards and punishments of the last judgment since they well enough understood that pure souls might have an immediate fruition of God The first Motive may be that the Beatifical Vision is more perfect with the body resum'd then without it which S. Chrysostom exceedingly favours Yet I am not convinced by it first because nothing of this reason appears amongst most of them though the Thesis be common to them all and secondly because no proof thereof is brought by him nor by S. Augustine himself though he affirms it certain that the soul of man devested of the body cannot so behold the incommutable goodness as the Angels do and the said souls expect the redemption of their bodies since in his Retractations he seems to acknowledg the obscurity of the Consequence The reason we have given for it in our Theological Institution is singular and by few valued or comprehended The next Motive may be because Corporeal goods which are first attained by the Resurrection are more esteemed by the generality of Christians then spiritual as being better understood by them But this reason is too disadvantageous to Christianity it self for it being the designe of it's profession and task of its Doctorin to take off the minds of men from terrene goods and place them on celestial 't is altogether improper to permit corporeal advantage to be preach'd and inculcated more vehemently then spiritual nor doth it stand with those encomiums of Beatitude That eyes have not seen eares not heard c. That the passions of this time are not condign to the future glory that there is good measure heaped together pressed down and overflowing c. Lastly Because we are taught that they compared to spiritual pleasures principally to the Beatifical Vision have the proportion of finite to infinite so that it little imports the satisfaction and contentment of the person whether he hath then or not The third reason then must take place That therefore the Retributions of the last day are so inculcated because they are universal whereas the rewards which before that are given are particular and as it were priviledges I shall endeavour to explicate my self Mankind or humane nature is not integrated by a few wise or extraordinarily religious persons but by the commonalty and universality of Christians Them therefore God and Christ in the predication and propagation of the Gospel hath respect to These things then in the bulk and body of Catholick faith are to be promised which concern the generality of Mankind And truly whether we cast our eyes on the old or new Testament we shall find our Faith founded and rooted in the resurrection Let us examine the hopes of Job the threats of Ecclesiastes the menaces or promises of the Prophets the comfort of Toby and instructions given to his Son Lastly either the valour of the Machabees fighting or their patient suffering every where we meet with the Resurrection Is the New stile different Do not all the exhortations parabies promises denuntiation of Christ our Lord sound forth the Resurrection S. Paul cryes out that all Faith is at an end and frustrated if you take away the Resurrection S. S. Peter Jude James and John repeat the same lesson This is the Theam which both affrighted and allured all the world this made the proudest necks to bow and both already hath and shall subjugate all Nations to the obedience and Laws of Christ And now behold us on a sudden revolved I know not how to the solution of the difficulty which begat this discourse for by this clue we readily acquit our selves of all intricacy in the Apostles wish of mercy to Onesiphorus not simply in the next world but expresly in the day of Judgment For though the vertues of the person permitted him to hope no less then that his last breath would wafte him to the regious of Beatitude yet he chose rather to express his affection in terms sit to explicate to all the Brethren and Faithful the common condition of retribution least he might be thought to have entertain'd too good an opinion of Onesiphorus's well-doing And that this was the form of prayer for the dead among the Jews those that are conversant in their rights do testifie and our selves have a manner of speech not much unlike when challenging our due we threaten to demand it at the day of Judgment if it be not restored And if I mistake not Christ our Lord gave us the hint advising us to agree with our adversary in the way least he deliver us to the Judg and the Judg to the Executioner who shall with rigour exact the debt You see then that both Matthew 5. 26. Luke 12. 58. we are taught that we must smart for
our offences in the last day of Judgment and then make satisfaction to those we have injured Which passages if they be urged will convince us that there is a remission of sins and that not without fire and torments in the day of judgment Especially Catholicks who not believing punishment due for every the least breach of neighbourly charity are compell'd to admit an expiation of such lighter trespasses in the day of Judgment when the adversary will be together with us and Christ sitting the common Judg to whom he may deliver us These two Texts then conclude the same But what stand I enumerating every particular Text If the whole face of the Scripture if the universal Assembly of Saints and holy Doctors if the belief of all ages look upon the day of Judgment as the time of general reward certainly unless we avow that the greatest part of Mankind is then admitted to Beatitude the Majesty and utility of that grand day is annihilated and the ostentation of those great promises rendred inconsiderable in respect of what was conceived of it From the main stock therefore of Christian Faith springs the certainty of this truth That whoever are once in Purgatory that is the greatest portion of the faithful can never be possessed of the Kingdome prepared by the Father till they have presented themselves at the supreme and august Tribunal that it may be fitly said to them all what is to take effect in the greatest part of them The Sixth Accompt The eight and ninth Texts are considered THe next Text which occurrs is so special an evidence that I cannot omit it without the indignation of the Reader It is found 1 Cor. 3. 13 14. c. If any one saith the Apostle builds upon this foundation Christ or his Doctrine planted by the Apostle in their hearts gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans work shall be manifest for the day of our Lord will declare it because it shall be revealed in fire and the work of every one of what kind it is the fire shall try If any ones work shall abide which he built thereon he shall receive reward if any ones work burn he shall suffer detriment but himself shall be saved yet so as by fire Thus far the Apostle immediately befâ—re which he had rebuked them for making comparisons among their preachers to which also he ' afterwards returns From whence some are conjectured that these speeches refer rather to the Doctrine of the Teachers then works of the Auditors But the contrary appears first in that the Builder comes after the Apostle hath done his work whom we may well suppose to have delivered to the faithful the whole and intire Law of Christ as himself testifies bâ—dding adieu to the Asian Churches that he had withdrawn nothing that was profitable from them Secondly what kind of tryal can there be of Doctrines by the day of our Lord as the Latine Translation hath it or that day as the Greek reads if the Article be taken emphatically or simply Dâ—ey that is diuturnity or length of time wherein the builder may receive reward or detriment Thirdly who shall be saved by suffering detriment The Preacher or Hearer There is no work in the Preacher by conflagration whereof he may suffer detriment and if the Hearer suffer it then is he also the Builder and not only he but whoever destroyes the Temple of God within himself him will God overthrow that is severely punish But to return The Apostle proceeds to enumerate three sorts of good that is perfect works and as many which abide not the trial and adds that of which of these kinds every ones works are it shall be made manifest Why Because the day of our Lord will declare it How By being revealed in fire a fit examiner of the several alloyes After this he goes on If any ones work remain he shall receive reward that is more good shall be added to him But if any mans work burn he shall suffer loss that is he shall be punished and that which he seemes to have shall be taken from him But because his foundation is solid to wit the lively faith of Christ in him he shall be saved but as a brand snatch'd flaming and charred from the fire This is the literal sense of that place in which it is evident that the discourse runs of Venial sins it being plain that Mortal ones cannot be built upon Christ since by their very being in our souls they expel from thence life and Christ The next thing we are to reflect on is that according to the interpretation we have given the day of which the Apostle speaks musts be the day of Judgment which appears partly because the Latine Text hath the day of our Lord which shewes there have been various lection in the Greek though now all copies agree but more rationally from the context it self For if it be explicated thus Every ones works shall be apparent because the day of tryal will be revealed in fire a fit instrument of bringing them to the truth the discourse proceeds fair and smoothly But if it be brought to this Every ones work shall appear for Day that is length of time will clear the truth because the work shall be reveal'd in fire and the fire shall try every ones work of what kind it is the discourse is rendered obscure interrupted and with unnecessary repetition Finally can the distribution of rewards and sufferings be more properly refer'd to any other day then the Day of Judgment Or is salvation at least by fire given in any other I am not ignorant S. Augustine and that several times explicates this passage of the tribulations of this world But if I deceive not my self from the literal he falls to the moral sense a thing not unusual to the Fathers For if the Text be understood primarily of temporal afflictions it is too obscure and allegorical first to call tribulation the day of our Lord is an unusual phrase and though sometimes in the Prophets it may be so taken yet that is only when the glory and majesty of God and the declaration of his Justice in revenging wickedness is described Next this part of the Text because it shall be revealed in fire must be understood of the works themselves and so that which followes And of what quality every ones work is the fire shall try becomes a meere tautology and moreover there begins a new allegory of fire without any particle determining it And again what signifies this He shall receive reward That is properly called the reward which is given in the end of the day or accomplishment of the whole work not in every part or moment thereof as particular tribulations are to be accounted In like manner if any ones work burn he shall suffer damage what can it import That the pleasures which inveigled his affections are now taken away They were not his workes but the
matter upon and about which he did work Again he shall suffer damage must signifie he will be troubled or sorrowful but that the rather by impotency to sin a new and freshly then to be amended Lastly He shall be saved yet so as by fire Shall regret and sorrow for the loss of things temporal save him Or the loss it self by means of that sorrow It must be then understood that this tribulation must conect and reform him which though sometime it happens yet not alwayes or indeed for the most part which nevertheless is requisite to make the truth of the Text apparent Whosoever having throughly contemplated this passage and finding the interpretations given it by others to be scarce reconcileable with the Letter whereas ours in every particular wonderfully agrees with it shall notwithstanding profess himself unsatisfi'd in what we have offered I shall be much surpriz'd if he ever find conviction from any of the sacred writings My last Testimony shall be from S. Matth. 12 where Christ our Lord declares that the sin against the holy Ghost shall neither be remitted in this world nor in the next Which S. Mark in like manner expressing saith it shall not be remitted for ever Holy Fathers gather from hence not impertinently that there is a remission of sins after this life and some of our Moderns make use thereof to confirm the Doctrine of Purgatory as it is vulgarly described But in truth therein they fail for whatever venial stains the departed soul had contracted those they absolutely declare to be by a perfect conversion to God in the very first instant cancelled Purgatory therefore according to them doth not remit but chastise sins and consequently they have no right to alledg this place since remission of sins there is none according to them But on the contrary if the affections to sin remain after death and in the day of Judgment are rectifi'd 't is evident there must be a remission of sins in the next world And thus by the whole series of this discourse it is made appear that no one text of holy writ is or can be urged for Purgatory which by some circumstance or other does not at the same time prove that it is no otherwise a part of Christian belief then as we have already explicated The seventh Accompt Some places of Scripture applyed by holy Fatâ—â—â—s to confirm the same truth IT is now time to take the votes of antiquity and observe whether the suffrages of the holy Fathers are more numerous and propitious to our adversaries or us And first let us interrogate those who by application of holy Writ rather then by their own proper motion or design declare this Purgation to be made in the day of Judgment S. Basil Ch. 15. on Esay calls the baptisme of fire that probation which is made in the day of Judgment S. Hierome upon the third of Matthem saith In this world we are baptized with the spirit in the future with fire the Apostle also giving testimony that of what sort every ones works are the fire shall try Theodoret Ephrem and Rufinus explicate the prophecy of Malachy wherein Christ is said to purge the sons of Levi of the last judgment S. Augustine lib. 20. c. 25. de Civit. Dei conjoynes the place of Esay and Malachy and applies them both to the same day and lib. 16. c. 24. de Civ. Dei he in like manner explicates the passage of the fifteenth of Genesis of the smoaking furnace and flashes of fire passing through the midst of the divided carcases to be the fire of the last day which shall discriminate the carnal persons who are to be saved by fire from the carnal ones to be damned in fire From hence we may thus argue The Fathers interpret those places of holy Writ which speak clearly of the purgation of sins and that by fire to be meant of the day of Judgment therefore they teach that the purging of souls from their sins by fire is performed in that day and consequently that that is the Purgatory fire Whoever then confesses and acknowledges the purgation of souls in the day of Judgment by the general conflagration defends Purgatory in the sense of the Holy Fathers nor can any thing from their Testimonies be alledged for the cessation of or exemption from Purgatory before that day when they teach that souls are purged by fire And hence also are they easily silenc'd who cry out that such like Testimonies are to be understood of some few remaining alive to the very last hour For the maintainers of Purgatory waving those passages which speak so in general termes will find it no small difficulty to make a Father or two speak out for them and so the whole extrinsecal authority fit to maintain Purgatory will be lost both the Scriptures themselves as hath been shewn being a verse to that conceit and absolutely respecting the day of Judgment and the holy Fathers refusing to own it Besides most of the Patrons of this intermedial fire conceive that all men shall be dead before the day of Judgment so that the same flames may serve to expiate them without the help of those of the conflagration and Judgment and whatever is otherwise affirmed by them clearly is not a consequence of their Doctrine but an invention to elude the evidence of the Fathers Let as therefore dispel this mist also with the clear attestation of such of them as speak plainly and positively in the case The Eighth Accompt Testimonies from all Antiquity maintaining the same truth St. Denys of Areopagus shall usher them in who tells us that those Psalms were wont to be sung for the Dead which make mention of the Resurrection as also such lessons as contain the promises thereof And speaking of the secure estate of good men departing he saith they perfectly understand that all will go well with them in the life everlasting through their total resurrection From whence it is evident that the hope which they generally had for the dead and which was therefore fit to be expressed in the Office for the dead depended on the resurrection for its effect and this in the very beginings of Christianity Origen is yet more clear in his third Homily on the 36. Psalm As I conceive saith he we must all be brought to that fire it went a little before which is prepared for sinners though he be a Peter or a Paul he must come to that fire but such as they shall hear it said though you pass through it the flame shall not burn you But when such a sinner as my self shall come to the fire as Peter and Paul did he shall not pass through it as Peter and Paul did In the end of the eighth book of his Commentaries on the Epistle to the Romans he saith But he who neglects to be purged by the word of God and Evangelical Doctrines is reserv'd for sad and penal purifications that the flames of Hell
may cleanse him whom the Apostolical Doctrine and Evangelical speeches could not And in his thirteenth Divine Homily upon Jeremy But if any one be saved in the second resurrection he is a sinner who needs the baptisme of fire who by burning is purged that the fire may consume whatever he had of wood hay or stubble I cannot but foresee that my adversaries will except against Origen because he is thought to have exempted all men from eternal punishments But their exceptions are unjust For what do they aime at Because elsewhere he exceeded the truth must he be thought never to have defendediâ— Because in some one thing he departed from others must he not be heard in those things wherein he agrees with others If this be so let him deserve no place or credit in antiquity and let them likewise be deny'd any use or advantage by him But that Origen hath in this particular the rest of the Fathers not only for his applauders but also followers S. Ambrose is a sufficient witness who in his comments of the Psalms is esteemed to have borrowed this sentence from Origen Thou hast examined us with fire Saith David we shall all therefore be examined with fire With fire therefore shall the sons of Levi be purged with fire Ezckel with fire Daniel Woâ— be to me if my work burn and I suffer loss of this my labour Though our Lord save his servants we shall indeed be saved through faith but so as by fire if we are not consumed we shall at least be burnt How some remain in the fire others passe through it the Divine Scripture tells us And on the 118. Psalm This Baptisme shall be after the consummation of the world the Angels being sent to segregate the good from the evil when iniquity shall be burnt up by the furnace of fire that the just may shine as the Sun in the Kingdome of God All must be try'd by fire who desire to arrive at Paradice all must pass through flames whether it be John the Evangelist whom our Lord so loved that he said of him to Peter if I will have him remain what is it to thee follow thou â—e Of whose death some have doubted of his passage through that fiâ—â— none can doubt or whether it be Peter who received the keys of the Kingdome of Heaven he must say we have passed through fire He will be examined as Silver I shall be examined as Lead till my drosiâ— Lead be consumed I shall burn He alone could not be sensible of or subject to that fire who is the justice of God Christ Let Tertullian bear Origen company who in the last Chapter of his Book de Animà explicates that Prison mentioned in the Gospel of some infernal receptacle and the last quadrant or farthing to be the punishment of every small offence by the delay of the Resurrection What can be said more fully to declare that no sin whatever can be remitted before the resurrection The same hath S. Cyprian in his 32. Epistle where speaking of sinners in which number he comprehends all except Martyrs he pronounceth that they are to be amended with a long sufferance of griefs to be a great while purged with fire and in the day of Judgment to expect anxiously the sentence of our Lord Lactantius Constantine's Master shall be next who in his seventh book of Institutions Chap. 21. saith When God shall judg the just even them shall he examine with fire whose fins shall exceed in gravity and number they shall be scorcâ—'d and fiâ—ged with the fire but those whose justice is perfect and whose vertues throughly ripe and mature shall not at all feelâ— it Let Hilary succeed Lactantius On the 118. Psalm How saith he can that Judgment be desireable in which we must encounter with that indefatigable fire wherein those severe torments are to be undergone for the expiation of the souls guilt A sword passed through the soul of blessed Mary that the cogitations of many hearts might be revealed If then that Virgin who was able to contain God himself descend to the severity of that Judgment who dares covet to be judged by God St. Basil upon the 9th Chapter of Esay The Prophet declares that terrene things shall become fuel for that chastising fire to the advantage and benefit of souls For he threatens not ruine and total destruction but rather infinuates a Purgation according to that of the Apostle If any ones work burn he shall suffer damage but himself be saved yet so as by fire But nothing can be more clear then that place where he affirms the same fire shall both punish the guilty , and illuminate those who are designed â—on eternal joyes What else is this but that the just and unjust shall experience the same fire which to the one shall afford comfort to the other torments I shall not think much to joyn Nâ—ssen with his Brother who in this point stands somewhat in need of his brotherly assistance For he discourses of Purgatory fire without distinguishing the times of purgation But whereas some Hereticks traduce him for an Origenist they do therein like themselves impudently so great a personage ought not for a few obscure words be suspected of so great a madness Let his relation to S. Basil afford him this fanctuary and protection that without evident proofs he be not branded with impiety S. Chrysostome on the first Epistle to Timothy saith One siphorus shall have his reward in that terrible and dreadful day when we shall stand in need of much mercy Gregory Nazianzen in his Sermon on the Epiphany speaking of the Novatians who differed from the Catholicks only in ill custome tells them that perhaps if they retract it not they shall be baptized with the last Baptisme which he affirms to be more sharp and lasting and to feed upon the matter as upon hay consuming all the levity of wickedness Nor is Nicetus to be heard who interprets this passage of Hell which is only punishment and not Purgation As in like manner Oecumenius must excuse us who fancies the same in S. Basil that he may draw him to countenance a certain singular opinion of S. Chrysostome S. Hierome T. 3. upon Amos The fire of the day of Judgment first dâ—voâ—rs the Abysse that is all kind of sins wood hay stubble and afterwards eates also the part that is reaches the Saints who are râ—puted the part and propriety of our Lord S. Augustine on the sixth Psalm All that have not the foundation which is Christ are condemned in the day of Judgment but they are amended that is purged who build wood hay stubble upon this foundation Again in the 16th Book de Civit. Dei cap. 24 already cited speaking of the furnace and fire passing though the divisions spoken of in the 15th of Genesis he saith At the setting of the Sâ—n that is now at the very end the day of Judgment is signifi'd by that fire which divides betwixt the
carnal people who are by fire to be saved and the carnal ones in fire to be damned And elsewhere in the Psalms and his Sermons de Tempore he repeats the same explication And that you may see he speaks not of those only who are just then to dye on the sixth Psalm above ciâ—ed he immediately addes Make me such a one O Lord as that I may not need the fire to mend me or the correcting fire And that you may further perceive he was herein constant to himself Lib. 20. de Civiâ— Dei cap. 25. From what we have alledged saith he it seâ—â—es evidently to appear that in that Judgment there will be certain purging punishments for some And whereas lib. 21. c. 26. he seemes to doubt whether such fire as consumes venial sins may not be admitted betwixt the day of Death and the day of Judgment that intrenches not upon the certitude of what he had already established but rather begins a new Question especially since he explicates himself not of material fire but of the fire of tribulation His intentions may perhaps be more illustrated if we adde the negative place De Civit. Dei l. 2. c. 24 As saith he in the resurrection of the dead there will not want those who after the pains which the spirits of the dead suffer shall find mercy that they be not precipitatid into eternal For it would not have been with truth affirmed that they should not be forgiven neither in this world nor the next unless there were some who though they founâ— it not here should notwithstanding obtain remission hereafter And in the fifth Chapter of the sixth book against Julian If no sin saith he were to be remitted in that last Judgment I suppose our Lord would not have said of a certain sin that it should neither be remitted in this world nor the next Finally Confess l. 9. c. 3. Grant him Verecundus in the resurrection of the just a recompensation for the good Offices he did us since thâ—â— hast already made him one of thy faithful Nor is his 80th Epistle to Hesichius to be omitted In what condition every mans last day finds him in the same shall worlds last day overtake him for such as in that day he departs such in the last day shall he be judged What can more throughly discredit all pretence of intermedial change Ruâ—â—inus if he be the Author of that work on the Psalms which is ascribed to him is to be explicated conformably when he saith By anger may be understood the trial by purging fire in which they shall be chastised who now build things unprofitable upon Christ their foundation as meaning by that purging fire the fire of the last day of Judgment and so he confirms our opinion To him we will joyn Eucherius Lugdunâ—nsis if the Homilies which carry the name of Eusebius Emissenus be his They who have committed things worthy of temporal punishment saith he to whom belongs that speech of our Lord that they shall not go free till they have paid the last farthing shall pass through a fiery River according to that of the Prophet a swift River ran before him through horrid gulfs of flaming metal And a good while after The just shall pass through them as through pleasant and refreshing baths the flames loosing their propriety and their untouched bodies shall be honour'd by the very Instruments of pain because they were not burthened with sin The description of the just passing through those flames with their bodies untouched and the fiery River running before the face of Christ give us sufficient light that the day of Judgment is here spoken of Nor need it any way trouble us that he saith the slowness in passing through shall be proportionable to the matter of sin for there may well in the compass of one day be diversity of torments and of their duration besides delay may not improperly signifie difficulty in passing The Ninth Accompt That the Proofs of the opposite opinion are Modern and betray their Novelty NOr hath the hasty progress of this vulgar perswasion concerning the cessation of punishments before the day of Judgment altogether Eclipsed the contrary For Venerable Bede himself doth not admit to Heaven those whom he supposeth to be freed and Alcuinus is positively against it Both S. Anselme and S. Thomas joyntly confess that the purging and saving fire mentioned by the Apostle may be understood of the fire of conflagration And the most eminent among our Modernes confess this to have been the sence of antiquity nor do themselves much labour to oppose or discredit it But nothing can be more clear then the Saxon Homilies lately set forth in the * Annotations upon Bede which having been purposely compiled that they might be read throughout all the Churches in England evidently declare the sence of the English Church till the beginning of the Schooles What shall I say of S. Gregory who first brought into the Church the contrary opinion from certain stories and relations of pious but timorous persons Not one word can be found in him of admitting those who were so pretended to be freed to the Beatifical Vision but one who had been excommunicated is reported to have received the Communion others to have quitted their painful prisons And here it may well be noted that our Modernists who admit the fire spoken of by S. Pâ—ul to be the fire of the last day cannot from that Text though none more clearly assert Purgatory draw the least advantage to the confirmation of theirs but on the contrary meere confusion and darkness And now let us cast up the total summe of this discourse which consists of these three constant asseverations of the holy Fathers first that some souls already enjoy God secondly that none are yet locally in heaven since to be in place requires a body thirdly that all the faithful expect the day of Judgment that they may receive the reward of what they acted in their life-time wherein all their works are to be try'd by fire and those who were not perfectly holy to be purged and suffer detriment From whence we may with the same constancy pronounce that since those who dye in sin provided their foundation be on Christ are in the last day to suffer purging flames there can be no other material ones after this liâ—e but they For if you substract those testimonies of the Fathers which either expresly speak of the day of Judgment or in such general terms that it is evident they ought to be applyed to it by consent and in complyance with the rest you must from them expect no authority at all for the establishing of Purgatory To which we may adde since all Christian belief or credulity is finally resolved into and totally depends on Christ and his Apostles Doctrine if any Tenet concerning a subject not otherwise then by revelation discoverable appear not to have been by un-interrupted succession from them derived unto
in its right course it is therefore no less indubitable that it mis becomes God and ought not to be attributed to him You will object that the sacred stories overflow with Examples of chastisements which have no coherence with the crimes for which they are inflicted or at least grow not immediately out of them That David's son dy'd because he had made others blaspheme the name of the Lord That the Boys who scoffed at Elizeus were torn in pieces by a Bear That a Lyon destroy'd the disobedient Prophet and a thousand such like I answer in * the Theological Institutions it is sufficiently declared that there is then a necessity of a miracle or work beyond the usual and connatural course of causes when our good requires it should by us be thought that the order of Nature is shaken and overpower'd When this happens in order to punishments the connatural Government of men exacts that the usual connexion which is found in the ordinary series of things betwixt the fault and penalty should be omitted least the Revenge which God in those cases intends to signalize should seeme an effect of chance or Nature not of the uncontrouleable power of his Deity But these Examples are not to be drawn to the condition of ordinary punishments which are usual and customary in the common order of things The same humane frailty in point of discourse leads our Adversaries into another incongruity which it will not be amiss here to take notice of They affirm that God remits the guilt of sin but not the pain For as they experience in themselves when injur'd or exasperated a certain â—bullition or quick motion of spirits about the heart which though at the same time they forbear any violence yet can they not allay so do they perswade themselves that there is in God a certain aversion from a sinner which though upon his repentance it ceaseth yet do they conjecture that an intention of punishing him may still remain From whence they infer that all the guilt of the soul is pardon'd before it arrives at Purgatory but the pain is there notwithstanding to be endured But it seems they never consider that the passion or impetuosity spoken of is a corporeal motion unworthy a wise man much more unfit to be transâ—â—â—'d or apply'd to God For anger in God signifies no more then an intention to punish Whence necessarily it followes that as much as is remitted of the fault so much must be remitted of the punishment Again what can the sinner be guilty of if not of sin Of an Offence say you to God But that if Punishment ensue not thereon whom doth it prejudice The Man He is concern'd only in the Pain God against whom the offence is But God can receive no prejudice And indeed in our common speech we do not use to say sin deserves guilt but punishment so that the guilt of sin is the fault it self and not a guilt or obnoxiousness to fault but to punishment Impossible therefore it is that Pains purely upon the account of sins already remitted should be undergone in Purgatory Let them therefore consider whether the passion we experience in our selves be any thing else then a beginning or first motion of the Heart to Revenge that is to annoy the Offender that is in a spiritual substance a will to punish But though a will to punish be a different thing from an aversion to sin yet is it subsequent thereto and later then it and consequently according to the nature of the thing will first of the two cease It is therefore against Nature that the aversion should be taken away and yet the will to punish remain which is wholly grounded and originally dependent upon that aversion Whence those Divines are grosly mistaken who affirm the effect that is the Will to punish ceasing the Cause that is the aversion from the sinner is taken away and deny that the cause to wit the aversion being taken away the effect to wit the Will to punish ceases Finally if need were we could in our defence muster an army of Fathers and appeal to the common sense and Judgment of Mankind You will say perhaps at least it cannot be deny'd but that there is a previous dissimilitude betwixt God and the sinner antecedently to his Will of punishing him and that therein consists the point of offence It is answered no man explicates the nature of offence by dissimilitude but by action so that if the dissimilitude act not upon the offended party it is no offence at all And besides the dissimilitude it self is not so great as that of irrational creatures for though it disfigure yet doth it not cancel the image of God within us But all other things besides Man deserve not the honour of being called his image but his foot-step Lastly this aversion is the cause of his punishing whence without it there can be no liableness to Pain in Man no appetence thereof in God The Fourteenth Accompt Of the Punishments which we meet with in the sacred Scriptures and of the remission of sins TO what we have here delivered it may be objected that nothing is more frequent in the sacred Scripture then the account of punishments inflicted after the undoubted remission of the fault We his progeny feel yet the effects of the sins of our first Father Adam whom we no wayes doubt to reign with Christ our saviour in Heaven We read that the sins of Mâ—ses and Aaron were punished with death and yet at that same time that God familiarly conversed with them after the offence We read of the people sin which God threatens to remember in the day of Revenge and yet in the mean while acknowledg his great benificence to them and particularly his introduction of them into the Land of Promise Now Jeremiah tells us chap. 2. that the translation of the Tribe of Judah was that day of revenge Is not this saith he done unto thee because thou didst forsake the Lord thy God at that time when he led thee by the way And yet betwixt those two times how often was God reconciled to them especially in the dayes of Saâ—â—uel David and Solomon Of the sin of David we read that his son should dye and the sword never cease in his house yet are we confident of his being in favour with God and the text assures us that in the presence of Nathan his sin was transferred What then can be more evident than that punishment remains due after the sin is cancell'd So that it may well be concluded that mortal sins though remitted still challenge their reward in Purgatory and venial ones unrepented are there by those grudging flames to be expiated I answer Almost in all things which fall under our consideration we are forced to distinguish in the same propositions there being predicated sometimes simply sometimes secundum quid or according to some one respect or notion And
as most commonly it happens then is the sin simply remitted but in part remains and in this world it is punished by evils following this debility of mind either sins or conflicts or whatsoever other griefs proceeding from them but in the future by the fruit offspring of those evils till in the last Judgment day that tepidness and as it were rust with which the soul by contagion of that sin was infected be burnt off From whence you easily see that in a perfect repentance God remembers no longer the sin but in an imperfect one accommodates and adopts the pains to the state of the soul From what hath been declared it likewise appeareth how God revengeth the sins of parents to wit external ones upon their posterity and this sometimes intriâ—secally when the children become themselves wicked by example of their parents but for the most part extrinsecally Which laâ—â—er punishments are threefold first immediate as when the son of David was punished with death secondly as it were eternal as when for the same sin it was threatned that the sword should never depart from his house and likewise for the adoration of the golden calfe that they should be punished in the day of visitation For these expressions import that those very sins should cause a total destruction of that people Of which sort is likewise that prediction of Christ our Lord that all the innocent blood which had been spilt from the just Abel to his time should fall upon the Jewes The third degree is betwixt these two as a standing rule of the divine chastisements to wit to the fourth generation All this is evident in the examples which we hinted at For the punishments of Adam Moses Aaron and David also in the death of his son belong to that rank which we have called miraculous in which it was requisite they should seem to proceed not from the order of causes but the especial judgment of God But for the posterity of Adam their punishments whether internal or external are * clearly shewn in our Theology to flow from the order of causes where it is likewise evident that that sin * can never be remitted till the Resurrection and last Judgment The crime of adoring the golden Calf became in like sort almost eternal thâ—â— is lasted till the extirpation of the whole people Which Ezekiel testifies Chap. 20. reproaching the Jews that from their departure out of Egypt they persisted by continual relapses in the sins of their forefathers who came from thence Whence it may be seen that the stiffness of neck which Moses so oft exprobrated and complained of continued in that people till their utter extermination and that as Christ our Lord assures us all the just blood spilt through the world was punished in that last generation The very same discovers it self in the sin of David whose Love to Bersheba preferred Solomon before the rest of his Children to the succession of his Crown which was the apparent cause of emulation between Absolom and Adoniaâ— and of both their deaths and of all the crimes of Absolom From the same fountain through Solomons disorders sprung the schism of the ten tribes and all the subsequent warrs with the defection of the house of Israel from God and the corruption and wickedness of the house of Judah and consequently all their mutual chastisements and final overthrow the sons still inheriting the vices of their Parents Lastly from the same principles it appears why for the most part the sins of private persons cease in the third or fourth Generation to wit because their memory and imitation is for the most part lost the respect of kindred growing weak and the permixion of forreign blood in the several Mothers rarely suffering the great Grand-fathers blood to boyl with any notable vigour in the veins of his Great-grandchild From this explication it is easily gathered that according to the natural series of Agents and Patients the punishment of sin whether external or internal is nothing else but the increase and exaggeration of sins in those who are perverse and the decrease and diminution of them in those who amend For both the internal sin in the wicked is punished by greater sins and their external punishments are the extensionâ—nd propagation of the sin into new subjects or into more parts of the same subject that is encreases it extensively or intensively And on the contrary in those that are good the strugglings and dolorous affections which wrestle with the affection to sin are their punishments as to the internal and their external ones are the dimintiuon of the dying sin weakly derived into other subjects The Fifteenth Accompt Three other Exceptions That they neither truly take off the punishments nor rightly make them due nor in fine make any real Purgatory FRom hence we may observe another mistake of our Divines in their model Purgatory For though they determine the sufferings there to be certain pains inflicted by torments yet when these pains cease they neither require nor think of any pleasures or at least good acts which may succeed them parallelled to which kind of Philosophy neither the whole variety of Nature nor Grace that I know of affords one experiment For in vegetativâ— nature griefs are asswaged by a certain congruous and self cherishing disposition of nature and in supernatural works sin is not extinguished but by infusion of grace and affections opposite to sin To assert therefore certain pains which must be determin'd and asswaged by a pure cessations and not by the entrance and subinter mission of any contrary wholly misbecomes a Philosopher is altogether repugnant to the ground work of natural action which requires an opposition of causes severally challenging to themselves the common subject Our eleventh exception takes notice of another absurdity They affirm that in the instant of death whether in the body or out of the body I know not by an act of contrition all guilt whatsoever which during the whole life had been contracted is immediately wash'd off I urge since the efficacy of contrition is by both sides acknowledged to be such that it not only abolishes the crime but equalizes and consequently is of its own nature capable to extinguish also the punishment and the act of contrition we now treat of must needs be strong and perfect why doth it not by its equivalence supersede all punishment Certainly if it be made by the soul now discharged from the body we cannot doubt but it must be of the highest degree and much more intense and vehement then any contrition which here with ardency of affections were able even to set the very body on fire as some pious Histories relate to have happened But if it be put to be made in the body being endowed with so eminent a prerogative as not to leave uncancelled any one slight stain upon what grounds or how shall we deny it the power
the spirit of our Brother that the mercy of our Lord may place him in the bosome of Abram Isaac and Jacob that when the day of Judgment shall come he may resuscitate him on the right hand among his Saints and Elect. Again We pray thee to command the soul of thy servant N to be carryed by the hands of thy Angels into the bosome of thy Friend Abraham the Patriarch to be resuscitated in the last day of Judgment that whatsoever vices by the deceipt of the Devil he hath contracted thou pious and merciful maist blot out by indulgence In the office of the dead in like manner in the Roman Breviary Lord when thou shall come to judg the Earth where shall I hide my self from the countenance of thy anger When thou comest to judg do not condeâ—n me Again be merciful unto me when thou shalt come to judg in the last day Again Remember not my sins O Lord when thou shalt come to judg the world by fire Lastly free me O Lord from eternal Death in that dreadful day when the Heavens and Earth shall be shaken when thou comest to judg the World by fire I tremble and fear whilest that discussion and future anger comes that day of anger that day of misery and calamity c. To this you may add the publick Litanies instituted as it is thought by Gregory the Great himself or at least by him recommended where you find In the day of Judgment deliver us O Lord And in the commendation of the soul departed In the day of Judgment deliver him O Lord Finally if we have yet any judgment left us and are not wholly transported and fascinated with the opposite opinion let us consider with our selves what a strange blindness and absurdity it had been in the composers of our sacred Liturgy if they intend to pray in the Mass and Offices for the delivery of souls before the day of Judgment not to express it in one clear sentence throughout so many and large prayers but perpetually to fix the Readers thoughts and expectations upon the last judgment What shall I say of so many who have not only used but corrected them yet never durst take the boldness to violate the ancient and received style Since then in Ecclesiastical Ceremonies the significations of the actions depends on the expressions and the expressions are so clear for purgation in the day of Judgment it is beyond dispute evident that this is the practise and intention of the Holy Church in all publick Prayers and Masses that is in all that are hers The four and Twentietth Accompt That the Practise of the Church as it is visible in action makes likewise for the same truth FRom what we have said the temerity and precipitation of those appears who from the denial of a sudden and capricious delivery of souls â—ye immediately to the refusal of supplicating any longer for them whereas on the contrary they ought more assiduously yea perpetually and without end to pray both because their torments are more durable because our own goods are so strictly conjoyned with theirs Our method therefore instructs us never to abandon never to remit or slacken the charity which we profess towards our friends lately departed and consequently by this new temporary motive fastens our souls upon the love and contemplation of the future world whereas the contrary opinion begets a short memory and long oblivion And here behold we are naturally put in mind of surveying the other branch of Practise which no less attests ours to be the Church's sense and perfectly conformable to her practise I mean the procurement of prayers for the souls of the Dead Let us reflect herein on the consequences which are apt to follow from either opinion If it be true that souls are from Purgatory conveigh'd to Beatitude before the day of Judgment though we know not how long the time may be of their durance yet this is certain that every one hath a limited time let us suppose ten years as a Divine famous enough hath opined the Church ought in reason to prescribe a cessation from thenceforward of duties for that soul that others may be benefited by what to it is now superfluous You reply that it is not done because the Church is uncertain how long the time may be Very well but how long I beseech you shall she continue uncertain till the day of Judgment And this of every one that is of all where then lies our quarrel I may perhaps affirm it to be certain that they are not dismiss'd before the day of Judgment and consequently that we ought alwayes to pray for them you affirm it to be uncertain whether they are sooner freed or no and consequently conclude the same thing to wit that we ought alwayes to pray for them The practise then of praying alwayes for them is common to us both More strongly indeed on our side from motives both of reason and antiquity which ever prayed for all without exception You reply it is so uncertain of every one in particular that notwithstanding it is indefinitely certain of some Let it be so because you are resolute what is that to the practise that remains common to both sides Can you from practise possibly convince that some indeterminately are exempted when you pray for every one as though he were detained Practise is an action and action is of Individuals that is of particular Agents about particular Patients But to proceed Imagine with your self some practise which may infer that some are freed ought there not to be a change in the Tenor of prayer and a thanksgiving succeed to supplication rather then that the self-same supplication should still continue Shew any such custome and you have won the day But if you cannot and on the contrary I can and do produce men pious and prudent who with their last breaths pray for their Grand-fathers and Great-Grand-fathers and when themselves come to dye build Churches Hospitals and the like eternal institutes with obligation to have themselves and their ancestors for ever pray'd for two things I shall esteem my self to have clearly prov'd first That Ecclesiastical Practise stands with us secondly that our Adversaries cannot bring the least shadow of proof from thence They quit not yet their station but threaten us with sorks now that their arrowes are spent Practise say they consists not only in the external action but in it with the intention opinion and hope conjoyn'd therewithall But it is evident that the opinion and hope with which men now adayes pray for the departed is that of a speedy delivery therefore the Church-practise concludes it In which first we deny the Major For when some action is handed down to us from our fore-fathers in the Church it doth not follow their intention must necessarily be derived to us by the same succession for though we know not in particular what they intended yet do we