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<DATE>2011-12-27</DATE>
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<NAME>Alexis Jakobson</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>Judex Expurgatorius:</HI> OR, A SHORT EXAMINATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY, In a SERMON upon 1 PET. 3.19.</P>
<P><HI>TOGETHER WITH</HI> An Orthodoxall interpretation of the Text.</P>
<P>By AM: STAVELEY, A.M.</P>
<Q><BIBL>AUGUST:</BIBL> <HI>Scitote quia cum anima &agrave; corpore avellitur, &s;tatim aut in Paradi&s;o pro meritis bonis collocatur, aut cert&egrave; pro peccatis in inferni tartara praecipitatur.</HI></Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 95.7.</HI></BIBL> To DAY if you will heare his voice, <HI>harden not your hearts.</HI></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. G.</HI> for RICH: LOWNDES, at the White-Lyon in S. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-yard, 1655.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFULL <HI>John Wroth</HI> and <HI>John Davies</HI> E&s;quires.</HEAD>
<P><HI>_I</HI> Have &s;ometimes peru&s;ed, not without regret, that pa&s;&s;age of the Hi&s;torian, viz. <HI>Beneficia eo u&s;que laeta &s;unt, dum videntur po&s;&s;e, &s;olvi verum ubi multum ante ven&ecirc;re, pro grati&acirc; odium redditur.</HI> I mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e my &s;elfe conquered by accu|mulated civilities from you, and mine own inability to make you the lea&s;t recompen&s;e, for alas what are my endeavours? yet re|ally not to belye mine own temper, I finde in my &s;elfe an ambitious greadine&s;&s;e, to im|brace
<PB REF="3">all occa&s;ions, whereby I may ex|pre&s;&s;e my gratitude towards you; wit|ne&s;&s;e this &s;mall E&s;&s;ay, whereunto I have took the boldne&s;se to prefixe your names, not to plead for my weakne&s;se, but to pa|tronize my obedience, chu&s;ing rather to run the hazard of (perhaps de&s;erved) cen&s;ure, than not to make a publick ac|knowledgement of my many and deep en|gagements for your abundant favours. Ac pt (I be&s;eech you) a thing born through the indulgence of Patronage, and in an&s;wer to your Commands, which I pre&s;ent as a te&s;timony, how much greater my de&s;ires, than my abilities are to de|&s;erve the &s;tyle of being</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Gentlemen,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED>Your obliged and obe|dient Servant, Ambro&s;e Stavely.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL><HI>1 PET. 3.19.</HI></BIBL>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">. By which al&s;o he went and preached unto the Spirits in Pri&s;on.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THere are two Volumes propounded to us Men, wherein God readeth Divinity-Le|ctures, and in&s;tructeth us in the glorious My|&s;teries concerning the eternall Power and Godhead: The <HI>Word of God,</HI> the <HI>Scriptures;</HI> and the <HI>Work of God,</HI> the <HI>Creation,</HI> are &s;o ma|ny Tutors to the world below, teaching &s;undry le&s;&s;ons in rela|tion to the world above.</P>
<P>And the&s;e two books &s;o exactly parallel each the other in their &s;tructure, frame, and con&s;titution, that they cannot in rea&s;on but be looked upon as arguments of much &s;trength and conviction to prove that they were both ca&s;t into the &s;ame mould, and the one came from the hand of the &s;ame workman with the other. The <GAP DESC="foreign"> and temperature of the Scripture &s;o proportionably an&s;wering the compo&s;ition and modell of the Univer&s;e, is a great demon&s;tration, that one and the &s;ame hand was the Architect and contriver of them both: For as in the workes of God, we have high Mountaines in one place, and valleyes, and plains in another; flats and &s;hallowes in one place, and heights and depths in another; &s;ome places altogether impregnable, and others againe ea&s;ily acce&s;&s;ible: We &s;hall &s;ee the like Checker-wortk interwoven in the Word of God, and all beautifully con&s;piring to render the Fabrick of them both, &s;uitable to the wi&s;dome of him, who was their Au|thor and Artificer. The body of the Scripture is made up of depths and &s;hallowes, of things neer at hand, and things a|farre off; of things my&s;terious and profound, and things
<PB N="2" REF="4">plain and obvious: There are contained in them &s;ome things whereof the weake&s;t cannot likely be ignorant, and other things againe which the &s;tronge&s;t are not able to under&s;tand. God may be &s;aid to dwell in the Scriptures, as in the Scri|pture he is &s;aid to dwell. Sometimes he is &s;aid to dwell in light, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 6.16. and el&s;ewhere he is &s;aid to dwell in dark|ne&s;&s;e, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 8 12. So in &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages of Scripture, God comes forth and &s;hewes him&s;elfe in cleere and perfect beauty unto the world, as in a Vi&s;ion at noon day: Otherwhere he retires and hides him&s;elf behind the dark clouds of ob&s;cure and difficult expre&s;sions, where we may &s;eek him long, and not be able to finde him. In &s;ome veines and places of the Scripture, God &s;its as it were, upon the very Superficies, &amp; Surface of the Letter, where even he who runs may read it; he &s;peaks plain|ly unto men, and &s;peaketh no parable at all; in others again he drawes the Curtaines between us and him&s;elfe, or deales with us as he did with <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> he puts us into the Cleft of the Rock, and covers us with his hand whil&s;t he pa&s;&s;eth by. There is a path (&s;aith <HI>Job</HI>) which no fowle hath known, neither hath the Vultures or the Kites eyes &s;een it, it is as yet hid from the eyes of all living, and kept clo&s;e from the fowles of the aire, <HI>Job</HI> 28.7. Men who &s;oar aloft, and fly the highe&s;t pitch of rea&s;on, wi&s;dome and labour, yet fall &s;hort in giving us a perfect account of the Divine meaning in &s;everall pa&s;&s;ages of the Scriptures. And among&s;t the re&s;t this parcell of Holy writ, penned by Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> and <HI>[dictated]</HI> to me for this dayes employment (without any &s;ini&s;ter con&s;truction be it &s;poken) is not the mo&s;t incon&s;iderable, wherein <HI>God hath made dark|ne&s;&s;e his &s;ecret place, his Pavilion round about are dark waters, and thick clouds of the skie,</HI> P&s;al. 18.11.</P>
<P>The <HI>Rabbins</HI> have a &s;aying, there are four Keyes in Gods keeping: The key of the Clouds, the key of the Womb, the key of the Grave, and the key of Food. I may adde, that there is a fifth key in Gods be&s;towing likewi&s;e, which is the key of the Scriptures; and when we attempt to &s;earch into tho&s;e <HI>Arcana Dei,</HI> we had need to pray that God would deale with us, as he did with the Apo&s;tles, <HI>To open our under&s;tanding, that we may under&s;tand the Scriptures,</HI> Luke 24.45. Since it
<PB N="3" REF="4">is <HI>He alone who hath the key of</HI> David, <HI>that openeth, and no man &s;hutteth, that &s;hutteth and no man openeth,</HI> Rev. 3.7.</P>
<P>I &s;peake it not to monopolize any vaine applau&s;e to my &s;elf (for I finde not in me the lea&s;t temptation or itching de&s;ire after o&s;tentation) neither yet to di&s;courage my &s;elfe from a mode&s;t, reverend &s;crutiny into the meaning; but there is &s;carce a Text of greater difficulty, whereon more various, and divers expo&s;itions are fa&s;tned; &s;o that I may take up the &s;ame language of Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> though uttered upon another ca&s;e, <HI>Speak I the&s;e things of my &s;elfe, or doe not others &s;ay the &s;ame al&s;o?</HI> Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> being con&s;ulted by <HI>Evodius</HI> about the meaning of the place, confe&s;&s;eth it did exceedingly puzzle him, and that he dur&s;t not affirme any thing about it: Will you heare him in his owne Dialect? <HI>Quae&s;tio</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>quam mihi propo&s;ui&s;ti, ex Epi&s;tol&acirc; Apo&s;toli Petri, &s;olet nos (ut te non latere arbitror) vehementi&s;&s;ime commovere.</HI> And again, <HI>Vides quam latebro&s;um &s;it, &amp; quae me moveant, ne affirmare hinc aliquid audeam:</HI> And the Je&s;uite <HI>Lorinus</HI> in his Commen|tary upon it, calls it, <HI>Difficilimum locum,</HI> a mo&s;t difficult place, and rehear&s;eth ten &s;everall expo&s;itions. And &s;o <HI>E&s;tius</HI> al&s;o upon the place &s;aith, <HI>Locus hic omnium pen&egrave; interpretum judi|cio difficilimus varieque expo&s;itus, &amp;c.</HI> This place, in the judg|ment of almo&s;t all Interpreters, is mo&s;t difficult, and is &s;o di|ver&s;ly expounded, that <HI>Lorinus</HI> reckons up nine interpretati|ons of it, to which he addes his owne for the tenth, and yet hath not touched all neither. And both <HI>E&s;tius</HI> and <HI>Lorinus</HI> note, that onely <HI>Arias Montanus</HI> did think the place ea&s;ie to be under&s;tood, but withall his expo&s;ition of it is &s;uch, that o|thers will not ea&s;ily embrace it. For as they relate, <HI>Arias</HI> by the <GAP DESC="foreign">, by the Spirits in Pri&s;on, doth un|der&s;tand tho&s;e eight per&s;ons &s;hut up in the Arke, which was a pri&s;on to them: <HI>Bellarmine</HI> al&s;o upon occa&s;ion of the Contro|ver&s;ie, about <HI>Limbus Patrum,</HI> and Chri&s;ts de&s;cention into Hell, treating of this place &s;peaks thus; <HI>&V;t autem hic locus qui &s;emper ob&s;curi&s;&s;imus habitus intelligatur.</HI> So that <HI>&egrave; confe&s;&s;o</HI> on all &s;ides, this place hath been accounted mo&s;t ob&s;cure: One &s;en&s;e plea&s;eth <HI>Origen,</HI> it di&s;likes another; <HI>Hillary</HI> approves one Paraphra&s;e, another rejects it; <HI>Zwinglius</HI> and <HI>Aretius</HI>
<PB N="4" REF="5">concurre in one opinion, there are more oppo&s;e it than &s;ub|&s;cribe unto it. <HI>Calvin</HI> and his followers would have their meaning take place, and others no le&s;&s;e eminent in judge|ment and learning refell it. I &s;hould exceed the bounds of Di&s;cour&s;e, &s;hould I pre&s;ent you with each particular mentio|ned, together with what is requi&s;ite to be delivered in the re|mainder.</P>
<P>In &s;uch a Sea of Controver&s;ies, and variety of Expo&s;itions, I confe&s;&s;e my &s;elfe &s;ometimes almo&s;t at a lo&s;&s;e, when I would re&s;olve where to begin, &amp; what method to pro&s;ecute for your pre&s;ent entertainment. But to avoide prolixity, there are onely two I meet with which are mo&s;t con&s;iderable; the former is that of the <HI>Romi&s;h Church,</HI> who thus comment upon the&s;e words, that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> did free tho&s;e antient Fathers from <HI>Pur|gatory,</HI> wherein they remained impri&s;oned till at, or by his death, he paid their ran&s;ome, and &s;atisfied his Fathers ju&s;tice. But this glo&s;&s;e of theirs being founded upon a fal&s;e Hypothe|&s;is, is de&s;ervedly rejected as &s;purious and fictitious: but me|thinkes I heare &s;ome &s;ay, how? is it founded upon a fal&s;e Hy|pothe&s;is? <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is ea&s;ie to create an adver&s;ary in a mans fancy, and afterwards foile him at plea&s;ure; this &s;ounds to the eare, but doth not &s;atisfie the judgement. In examination therefore of this quarrel between us, I &s;hall deal <HI>fide Roman&acirc;, &amp; fide Anti-Roman&acirc;:</HI> with a Roman faithful|ne&s;&s;e, but an Anti-Roman Faith.</P>
<P>The nature of a channell is be&s;t di&s;covered by retiring back to the fountaine, and it will not be a little conducible to our purpo&s;e, ot enquire after the Authors, who fir&s;t laid the foun|dation of this opinion, and how, and in what manner, in after|times it gathered &s;o much &s;trength, that to keep fuell at Pur|gatory-fire, it hath put all Chri&s;tendome into a Paroxi&s;me, and inflamed the whole world in an unextingui&s;hable confla|gration.</P>
<P><HI>Chemnitius</HI> a learned Author, who gives us the Narration, or if you plea&s;e, the Hi&s;tory of Purgatory, tells us that he findes <HI>Plato,</HI> who flouri&s;hed about 400 years before Chri&s;ts incarnation, to be the fir&s;t who laid the &s;tructure of Purgato|ry; and afterwards, when the <HI>Platonick Philo&s;ophers</HI> began to
<PB N="5" REF="5">be in admiration with the <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Doctors,</HI> this <HI>The&s;is</HI> of his had &s;o much liberty, as to be controverted in the <HI>Church.</HI> Now nothing el&s;e but humane Inference, and Phi|lo&s;ophical ratiocination inclined <HI>Plato</HI> to broach this opinion; <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> in his book, <HI>De praeparatione Evangelica,</HI> having tran&s;cribed a large di&s;pute of <HI>Plato,</HI> out of his <HI>Tractat. de Anima,</HI> in reference to a future life, informeth us, that <HI>Plato</HI> believed, that &s;uch men who &s;eemed <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in&s;anabiles e&s;&s;e,</HI> to be incurable (as &s;uch who committed murder praeme|ditately, or the like) were ca&s;t into a place of torment, from whence they never were to be &s;et at liberty. Such who com|mitted great &s;innes, but were <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Medicabilia,</HI> crimes curable (as if out of &s;odaine pa&s;&s;ion, they committed Man|&s;laughter, or &s;uch like) but yet &s;pent the re&s;t of their life, <GAP DESC="foreign">, in &s;orrow and repentance; they propor|tionably to their crimes were ca&s;t into flames, but of a diffe|rent nature from the former, and after a yeares expiration in &s;ufferance, approached to the Lake <HI>Acheru&s;ias,</HI> where they im|plored mercy from him whom they had offended: And if they would intreat their Adver&s;ary to be reconciled, they were free, otherwi&s;e there to remain till they had &s;ued out their pardon. On the other &s;ide &s;uch who lived tran&s;cendently pious, a&s;cend|ed to a place of bli&s;s, there to re&s;ide without di&s;turbance: Tho&s;e who&s;e conver&s;ations in this world were of a different nature, neither reaching to a full mea&s;ure of perfection, nor tending to downe-right profanene&s;&s;e pa&s;&s;ed by <HI>Acheron</HI> into a Lake of Fire, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, being purged, <GAP DESC="foreign">, are ab&s;ol|ved, and afterwards receive a remuneration for their good deeds: Thus <HI>Plato.</HI> And it is ob&s;ervable that when <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> relates &s;ome opinions of <HI>Plato,</HI> and that purpo&s;ely too, to &s;hew Philo&s;ophers held &s;ome tenents not di&s;&s;onant from the doctrine of the Church, he makes mention of two places one|ly for the dead, as agreeable to Scripture, adding nothing of a third place, or of Purgatory, which que&s;tionle&s;&s;e he would not there have admitted had the doctrine of Purgatory then been known or received in the Church: And Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> does not di&s;&s;emble it in his booke, <HI>De civitate Dei;</HI> that puni&s;hment in Purgatory after death, was the po&s;ition of
<PB N="6" REF="6"><HI>Platonick Phylo&s;ophers,</HI> and the &s;ame Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> rehear&s;ing that ver&s;e of <HI>Virgil,</HI>
<Q>Quique &s;ui memores alios fec&ecirc;re merendo,</Q> wonders to meet with &s;uch an opinion in the Poet, that the dead received comfort by the merits and &s;uffrages of the li|ving; adding moreover, that without any authority of Scri|pture this <HI>The&s;is</HI> crept from the Schoole of <HI>Plato</HI> into the Church of God.</P>
<P>I &s;hould tre&s;pa&s;&s;e too much upon your patience to enlarge my &s;elf in this particular; but if I doe not too much flatter my &s;elf, nor too fondly indulge mine own credulity, I have alrea|dy produced enough to clear it, that <HI>Pontificiall Purgatory</HI> received its Originall light from <HI>Plato</HI>'s dim <HI>lampe;</HI> So that <HI>Tertullian</HI> upon mature deliberation pronounceth, <HI>Philo&s;o|phos e&s;&s;e Hareticorum Patriarchas,</HI> that Philo&s;ophers were the Patriarks of Hereticks. Thus backed by no other authority, did this doctrine at fir&s;t advance it &s;elfe into the world, when the <HI>Jewes</HI> being mingled with the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> learned their work as the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t</HI> &s;peaketh: For the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> &s;eeing how <HI>Hea|thens</HI> expre&s;&s;ed their <HI>Philo&s;torgie,</HI> and naturall affections to|wards their dead friends, in &s;uper&s;titious Sacrifices and Exe|quies, this practi&s;e begun in the declining of <HI>Judai&s;me</HI> to take place among&s;t them. And on that account, after the time of the <HI>Prophets,</HI> the <HI>Jewes</HI> introduced <HI>Prayers</HI> and <HI>Sacrifices</HI> for the <HI>Dead;</HI> about 170. yeares before <HI>Chri&s;ts Incarnation;</HI> the fir&s;t Pre&s;ident and Example whereof we meet with, is the 2 of <HI>Macchabees</HI> 12. with which book who&s;oever is acquain|ted, &s;hall finde the whole frame and fabrick of the <HI>Jewi&s;h Go|vernment</HI> perturbed and di&s;ordered, the face of it, both as to <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall</HI> and <HI>Civill relations</HI> quite changed: <HI>I&s;rael</HI> had lo&s;t her former beauty wherewith &s;he was renowned, and the whole &s;tate of affaires depraved and corrupted; Their <HI>Empire</HI> ruinous, their <HI>Doctrine</HI> un&s;ound, their <HI>Manners,</HI> their <HI>Rites,</HI> their <HI>Langnage,</HI> their <HI>Names</HI> all extingui&s;hed, and in one word, in affection of conformity with two other Nations, they were wholly degenerated into <HI>Heatheni&s;me.</HI> No war|rantable
<PB N="7" REF="6">rantable Pre&s;ident or Example had they, no precept, no pro|mi&s;e encouraging this action of theirs, onely what them|&s;elves had copied forth from the cu&s;tome of tho&s;e <HI>Gentiles,</HI> among&s;t whom they had their conver&s;ation; whereas neither in the books of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> (which are, as I may &s;o terme them, the <HI>Head-Quarters</HI> of the <HI>Scriptures</HI>) nor yet in the <HI>Prophets,</HI> we &s;hall not finde the lea&s;t &s;yllable, tending to advantage their opinion or practi&s;e, nor doe the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> them&s;elves &s;tick to a&s;&s;ent to us in this Po&s;ition: And &s;hould I tell you, that tho&s;e books of the <HI>Macchabees</HI> are not <HI>Canonicall,</HI> and by con&s;e|quence, no infallible &s;tandards for <HI>Speculative</HI> or <HI>Practicall Theologie,</HI> it is no more than what I am able to ju&s;tifie, having the &s;uffrages of learned and judicious Authors, corrobo|rating this a&s;&s;ertion; To omit <HI>Lyranus,</HI> who &s;ayes, <HI>Non &s;unt in Canone, leguntur tamen per con&s;titutionem Eccle&s;iae Romanae:</HI> But withall, <HI>ut &s;obrie legantur.</HI> S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> in his &s;econd Book <HI>De Doctrin&acirc; Chri&s;tian&acirc;,</HI> Chap. 8. reckoning up the Books ac|counted Canonicall, omitteth the&s;e books of <HI>Macchabees</HI> in his Catalogue, &s;o that it &s;eems that learned Father e&s;teemed them <HI>Apochryphall.</HI> And Saint <HI>Jerome</HI> &s;aith expre&s;ly, <HI>Legit haec ad aedificationem plebis, non autem ad authoritatem Eccle&s;ia&s;tico|rum dogmatum confirmandam.</HI> The Church reads them indeed for in&s;truction of the People, but not to confirme any <HI>Eccle|&s;ia&s;ticall Tenent;</HI> moreover adding, <HI>Eorum quippe authoritas, ad roboranda ea quae in contentionem veniunt, minus idonea ju|dicantur.</HI> Their Authority is in&s;ufficient to decide a <HI>Contro|ver&s;ie.</HI> To this agreeth Saint <HI>Cyprian, Lege quidem in Ec|cle&s;ia, volui non tamen proferri ad authoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam.</HI> This now was the &s;en&s;e of the antient Fa|thers.</P>
<P>I might expatiate my di&s;cour&s;e, to &s;hew the va&s;t difference in manner of compo&s;ing tho&s;e two books, the <HI>Genius</HI> running through the veines of the one, being altogether unlike that of the other: But he who&s;oever was the <HI>Amanuen&s;is</HI> of the &s;e|cond book, hath given occa&s;ion enough to &s;u&s;pect it, ac|knowledging he had Epitomized it into one volume, from the works of one <HI>Ja&s;on</HI> of <HI>Cyrene,</HI> who had dege&s;ted the Hi&s;tory in five books, as in 2 <HI>Macehabees</HI> 2.23. you may at lei|&s;ure
<PB N="8" REF="7">peru&s;e, which place, when you con&s;ult, be plea&s;ed to take a view of that &s;lender, and childi&s;h Apologie, made at the end of the Story, which &s;carce reli&s;heth of a <HI>ma&s;culine temper,</HI> much le&s;&s;e of a <HI>Divine inspiration;</HI> 2 <HI>Macchabees</HI> 14. <HI>ver.</HI> 38, 39. And it is not unworthy of our ob&s;ervation, that in all Hi&s;tories it cannot be proved; after the time of <HI>Maccha|baeus</HI> till our <HI>Saviours</HI> dayes, that this cu&s;tome of <HI>Sacrificing</HI> or <HI>Praying</HI> for the <HI>Dead,</HI> was retained or u&s;ed among&s;t the <HI>Jewes:</HI> Indeed the <HI>Rabbins</HI> after <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> time, having their eyes blinded, and their hearts hardned, renewed it afre&s;h, and (<HI>Lyranus</HI> relating it) as from the example of <HI>Razis</HI> killing him&s;elfe, they counted it an Act meritorious, to be <HI>felones de &s;e,</HI> their owne Executioners; &s;o from the practi&s;e of <HI>Mac|chabaeus,</HI> the <HI>Rabbins</HI> in&s;tituted <HI>Memorialls</HI> for the <HI>Dead:</HI> And to this day in their <HI>Synagogues,</HI> they have <HI>Memoriales Libellos,</HI> out of which twice every yeare, from their Pulpits, publickly they rehear&s;e the names of the decea&s;ed: And at the clo&s;e, prayer is made, that <HI>God</HI> would in mercy remember their <HI>Souls</HI> and place them in <HI>Paradi&s;e,</HI> with <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>Jacob.</HI> Thus have I dealt impartially in this <HI>Hi&s;tory,</HI> which how much, or how little it patronizeth <HI>Roman Purgatory,</HI> I leave it to the arbitration of any indifferent Judge; and whereas our adver|&s;aries confe&s;&s;e, that they cannot produce any other place &s;pea|king plainly to &s;trengthen their Doctrine; manife&s;t is it, how ruinous is their &s;tructure, who&s;e very ba&s;is and foundation is &s;o infirme and tottering. Having now cleered it, that the <HI>Aca|demies</HI> of the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> were the <HI>Seminaries</HI> of this opinion of <HI>Purgatory,</HI> teaching it the <HI>Jewes,</HI> when their <HI>Religion</HI> was de|caying under the <HI>Law;</HI> it now remaineth to be treated, how it had its entrance among&s;t <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> under the time of the <HI>Gospell:</HI> That <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> and his <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> propounded no &s;uch <HI>Doctrine,</HI> might be in&s;i&s;ted on, did not the time prevent me. But if we examine the Spring-head of it, whence fir&s;t it did de&s;cend, we &s;hall finde the occa&s;ion of its Introduction into <HI>Chri&s;tian Churches,</HI> was no more warrantable, than of old into the <HI>Jewi&s;h,</HI> both of them alike invalid: I can now &s;tand but onely to pre&s;ent you with a &s;hort view of it, which in briefe was this; Pre&s;ently after the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> were taken out of the
<PB N="9" REF="7">world, there went abroad &s;ome <HI>Apocryphall Comments</HI> under their names, which being di&s;&s;ipated, began to be obtruded, if not to be believed, yet to be di&s;puted, and in proce&s;&s;e of time, gathered &s;trength under the arrogated title of <HI>Apo&s;toli|call Tradition:</HI> Among&s;t the re&s;t, one <HI>Hermas,</HI> whom report maketh to be Saint <HI>Paul</HI>'s Scholar, and he onely averreth it as being dictated to him from the vi&s;ion of an old woman, where the relation is &s;o weak and ridiculous, that it is beneath &s;eriou&s;ne&s;&s;e to repeate it: Whereupon <HI>Chemnitius</HI> maketh this Animadver&s;ion, <HI>Et haec lector ben&egrave; notet quod: Purgatori|um quando &s;ub novo Te&s;tamento primum qua&s;i de long&egrave; emi|care caepit anile commentum ab anu per&s;onula profectum fuit.</HI> I &s;hall not need to Engli&s;h it. The like &s;purious &s;tuffe is Father|ed on Saint <HI>James,</HI> and Saint <HI>Andrew,</HI> to the former where|of, is imputed a <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> wherein is contained prayer for the <HI>Dead,</HI> and a namele&s;&s;e <HI>Author,</HI> penning a book of the <HI>Acts of the Apo&s;tles,</HI> mentioneth, that S. <HI>Andrew</HI> interceded for an old dead Man: And <HI>Irenaeus</HI> writeth that there were &s;ome <HI>Hereticks</HI> in his time, who pouring Oyle and Water with &s;ome certain invocations, upon the head of the decea&s;ed, thought thereby they mitigated their paines, if any were inflicted upon them, I &s;hould be too prodigall of my time, in pur&s;uing the &s;eries of the <HI>Hi&s;tory,</HI> how <HI>Clemens Alexandrinus</HI> and <HI>Origen</HI> were &s;omewhat tainted with an opinion concerning <HI>Purgato|ry,</HI> but &s;o, that it was quite of a different nature from that which the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> endeavour to propagate; For <HI>Origen</HI>'s <HI>Purgatory</HI> admitteth no ea&s;e, relaxation or redemption, by the prayers or workes of the living, but that every one expi|ateth for him&s;elfe, and therefore indebted to none but them|&s;elves for their relea&s;ement. And <HI>Clemens Alexandrinus</HI> affirmeth it very dubiou&s;ly, (if we may give credit to <HI>Chem|nitius</HI>) who onely &s;ayes, <HI>For&s;an ce&s;&s;abunt &s;upplicia po&s;t hanc vitam;</HI> So that at be&s;t his is but conjectural, and (it may be) this in &s;ucceeding generations, was controverted in the <HI>Church,</HI> till the <HI>Grecians</HI> &s;eeing how apt &s;uch di&s;putes were to concili|ate &s;ecret approbation, in a Councell about the yeare 550. by publick authority exploded it, &s;o that never after did the <HI>Ea|&s;tern Churches</HI> receive it, untill about the yeare 1430. <HI>Greece</HI>
<PB N="10" REF="8">being infe&s;ted by the attempts of the <HI>Turkes,</HI> in hopes to pro|cure a&s;&s;i&s;tance. <HI>Paleologus</HI> Emperour of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> en|deavoured to make up the breach between them and the <HI>La|tines:</HI> To which purpo&s;e at <HI>Ferrara</HI> and <HI>Florens</HI> Agents met on both &s;ides, to compo&s;e the difference, where the great Controver&s;ie betwixt the <HI>Ea&s;tern</HI> and <HI>We&s;terne</HI> Churches, concerning <HI>The Proce&s;&s;ion of the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> was fully di&s;cu&s;|&s;ed and de&s;ided, but their concurrence in this was not &s;atisfa|ctory to the full; the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> pre&s;&s;eth &s;trongly, that among&s;t the re&s;t of the <HI>Articles</HI> of <HI>Faith,</HI> there &s;hould be a &s;ub&s;cription likewi&s;e to <HI>Puratory,</HI> to the Supremacy of the <HI>Roman See,</HI> and to Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation in the <HI>Euchari&s;t:</HI> The <HI>Grecians</HI> reply, their Commi&s;&s;ion extended no further than to treat with them, concerning the <HI>Proce&s;&s;ion</HI> of the <HI>holy Gho&s;t,</HI> &amp; as for any other Que&s;tions newly &s;tated, they could come to no po&s;itive determination, without licen&s;e from the <HI>Ea&s;terne Churches:</HI> If <HI>Greece</HI> will withdraw her hand from &s;ub&s;cribing, <HI>Rome</HI> is re&s;olved to hold her hand in furni&s;hing them with <HI>Auxiliary &s;upplyes:</HI> At la&s;t nece&s;&s;ity tyrannizing upon <HI>Pa|leologus,</HI> they are forced to joyne with <HI>Rome,</HI> which accor|dingly was done in the yeare, 1439. but &s;carce were 14. years expired, <HI>viz.</HI> in the yeare 1453. when behold <HI>Mahumet</HI> Em|perour of the <HI>Turks</HI> &s;urprizeth <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> and with a pu|i&s;&s;ant Army, invading the <HI>Grecian</HI> Territories, &s;ubdues all the <HI>Ea&s;tern Empire</HI> to his Dominions, which &s;ad and Tragicall pa&s;&s;age the <HI>Grecians</HI> interpreted as the effects of a ju&s;t judge|ment from Heaven upon them, per&s;ecuting them for their ba&s;e di&s;&s;embled compliance with the <HI>Latins,</HI> and therefore broke off all league and familiarity with them, and as for|merly, &s;o to this day con&s;tantly and &s;toutly renounce and di&s;|claim <HI>Purgatory,</HI> re&s;olving rather to &s;uffer &s;lavery under the <HI>Turks,</HI> where they enjoy their <HI>Religion,</HI> than &s;ubmit them&s;elves to the unbounded, unlimited, u&s;urped juri&s;diction of the <HI>Roman Patriarch.</HI></P>
<P>In &s;um, therefore (for I take no delight in <HI>Polemical Di&s;cour&s;es</HI>) <GAP DESC="foreign">, Old womens Fables, Apparitions, &amp; Spectrums of the dead, con&s;ultation with, and an&s;wers from Devili&s;h and Heatheni&s;h Oracles, the&s;e at fir&s;t created <HI>Purgatory</HI> for <HI>Orthe|dox
<PB N="11" REF="8">Divinity,</HI> which <HI>Rome</HI> mu&s;t now &s;tickle to uphold, e&s;pecially &s;ince the revenues coming in thereby warms her Bi&s;hops <HI>Kit|chin,</HI> &amp; if <HI>fame</HI> belies him not, provides him his &s;econd Cour&s;e. I am now &s;en&s;ible, that by rea&s;on of the &s;traitne&s;&s;e of the time, I mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily retract my fir&s;t re&s;olutions when I propounded to my &s;elf the method in handling this branch of holy Writ, which was then to have alleadged the <HI>Latine Fathers,</HI> where I finde &s;ome affirming <HI>Purgatory,</HI> others re|maining <HI>Scepticks</HI> in their judgements, &s;u&s;pending their Ver|dicts either <HI>Pro</HI> or <HI>Con,</HI> others againe down-right denying it: As for citations of Councels, them&s;elves have given me occa|&s;ion enough to &s;pare that labour, not denying but that the four fir&s;t <HI>Generall</HI> ones were ignorant of <HI>Purgatory,</HI> nei|ther was its doctrine ratified by any other antient one till that of <HI>Florence</HI> celebrated in the yeare 1439. where the <HI>Gracians</HI> reduced to <HI>Exigencies</HI> were compelled to a&s;&s;ent, though af|terwards they did <HI>Palinodiam canere,</HI> repenting them&s;elves of their cowardly <HI>Pacification,</HI> as hath already been &s;poken. If the Councell of <HI>Trent</HI> be further alledged again&s;t us, the whole world hath had &s;ufficient notice of tho&s;e juglings, impo&s;tures and bribings of &s;uffrages u&s;ed in their proceedings, we can therefore without much a&s;toni&s;hment, heare their <HI>Anathema</HI>'s thundring again&s;t us, while&s;t we heare God him|&s;elfe pronouncing, <HI>That if we or an Angell from Heaven preach any other Gospell, let him be accur&s;ed, Gal.</HI> 1.8. But to what purpo&s;e &s;hould I fight a duell with a Cloud, when by our lear|ned Adver&s;aries acknowledging the difficulty of the Text, and the rehear&s;all of the variety of &s;ences, whereof it is capable; thus much is obtained, that the words have not in them &s;uch an undeniable, unque&s;tionable meaning, as to promote <HI>Pur|gatory,</HI> but that other expo&s;itions may rea&s;onably be inferred from them.</P>
<P>The &s;econd interpretation I meet with, be plea&s;ed to take with this &s;hort <HI>Paraphra&s;e;</HI> that Chri&s;t from the beginning being <HI>Head</HI> and <HI>Governor</HI> of the Church, came in the dayes of <HI>Noah,</HI> not in Body, which then he had not, but in Spirit, and preached by the mouth of <HI>Noah,</HI> for the &s;pace of 120. yeares, to the di&s;obedient, which would not repent, and
<PB N="12" REF="9">therefore are now in Pri&s;on re&s;erved to the la&s;t judgment: Thus <HI>Beza.</HI></P>
<P>Now I am the more willingly inclinable to embrace this ex|po&s;ition, becau&s;e (be&s;ides the agreeablene&s;&s;e it hath with the precedent and con&s;equent ver&s;es) S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> in his fore|mentioned Epi&s;tle to <HI>Evodius</HI> renders it, if not in the &s;ame words, yet in effect to the &s;ame &s;en&s;e: By the &s;pirits in <HI>Pri&s;on</HI> he conceived to be meant men that lived in the dayes of <HI>Noah,</HI> who&s;e &s;oules were in their mortall bodies as in pri&s;ons, to which men <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> in his Spirit by <HI>Noah</HI> preached, though ne|verthele&s;&s;e they would not believe: <HI>Bellarmine</HI> and <HI>E&s;tius</HI> ac|knowledge this to have been the opinion of Saint <HI>Aug.</HI> con|cerning the&s;e words of Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> and that it concurreth very nigh with <HI>Beza's</HI> expo&s;ition.</P>
<P>This interpretation is embraced not only by <HI>Bede</HI> whom <HI>Bel|larmine</HI> mentions here in following Saint <HI>Aug:</HI> but al&s;o by <HI>Aquinas,</HI> and others, as <HI>E&s;tius</HI> ob&s;erveth, who al&s;o addeth that <HI>He&s;&s;elius</HI> (a <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Authour) doth under&s;tand the place much after the &s;ame manner: And as <HI>Lorinus</HI> relateth <HI>Diegus Paiva</HI> one who wrote in defence of the Councell of <HI>Trent</HI> doth directly expouned the words as <HI>Beza</HI> doth, though he would not have it thought that <HI>Paiva</HI> received it from <HI>Beza.</HI></P>
<P>But again&s;t this interpretation it may perhaps be objected, that the <HI>Spirit</HI> by which <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> went and preached to the <HI>Spirits</HI> in <HI>Pri&s;on,</HI> is oppo&s;ed to the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and mu&s;t therefore &s;ignifie <HI>Chri&s;ts Soule,</HI> not his <HI>Divine Nature.</HI></P>
<P>I an&s;wer, that <HI>Chri&s;ts Divine Nature</HI> is mo&s;t fitly under|&s;tood by the word <HI>Spirit,</HI> even as by the word <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> is to be under&s;tood, not onely his <HI>Body,</HI> but his whole <HI>Humane Na|ture:</HI> in re&s;pect of which <HI>Nature,</HI> Chri&s;t was put to death, and was quickned by his <HI>Divine Nature:</HI> Thus <HI>Oecumenius</HI> ex|pounds it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <GAP DESC="foreign">; put to death in the Nature of the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> that is, <HI>Humane Nature,</HI> and rai&s;ed againe by the po|wer of the <HI>Divine Nature,</HI> by which he went and preached, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>And why &s;hould this <HI>Expo&s;ition</HI> &s;eem &s;trange, when as <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> is put for <HI>Chri&s;ts Humane Nature,</HI> and therefore on the o|ther &s;ide, the word <HI>Spirit</HI> may denote his <HI>Divine Nature?</HI>
<PB N="13" REF="9">But againe it may be objected, that Saint <HI>Peter</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Chri&s;t [went] and preached,</HI> &amp;c. Therefore it is meant of the <HI>Soule,</HI> not of his <HI>Divine Nature,</HI> in which re&s;pect it cannot be &s;aid, but improperly, <HI>Chri&s;t [went] and preached.</HI></P>
<P>I an&s;wer, there is no nece&s;&s;ity to take it properly in the words of Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> more than in the words of Saint <HI>Paul, Ephe&s;.</HI> 2.17. When he &s;aith <HI>Chri&s;t came and preached peace un|to the Ephe&s;ians,</HI> which mu&s;t be meant of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> coming and preaching by the <HI>Apo&s;tle,</HI> for otherwi&s;e he in his owne per&s;on did not preach unto them. And thus <HI>E&s;tius</HI> notes it to be ex|pounded by S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> the interlineary glo&s;&s;e, <HI>Aquinas, Lyra</HI> and <HI>Cajetan:</HI> it is objected again, that by <HI>Spirits</HI> in <HI>Pri|&s;on,</HI> cannot be under&s;tood <HI>Living Men,</HI> except Saint <HI>Peter</HI> &s;hould on purpo&s;e &s;peak improperly, and ob&s;curely.</P>
<P>I an&s;wer, not <HI>Living Men,</HI> but the <HI>Soules</HI> of Men &s;eparated from their <HI>Bodies,</HI> are termed <HI>Spirits</HI> in <HI>pri&s;on,</HI> as being in the <HI>Pri&s;on</HI> of <HI>Hell,</HI> when <HI>Peter</HI> wrote of them, though they were not &s;o, but were joyned to their <HI>Bodies,</HI> and &s;o both <HI>Soules</HI> and <HI>Bodies</HI> joyned together, were living men, when <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> preached unto them by the mouth of <HI>Noah.</HI> For the <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Spirits</HI> in <HI>Pri&s;on</HI> or <HI>Cu&s;tody,</HI> [<GAP DESC="foreign">] &s;ignifying any kind of receptacle, <HI>Rev.</HI> 18.2. are tho&s;e <HI>Soules</HI> of Men that lay &s;o &s;heathed, &s;o u&s;ele&s;&s;e and unprofitable in their <HI>Bodies,</HI> immer&s;ed &s;o deep in carnality, as not to performe any &s;ervice to <HI>God,</HI> who in&s;pired and placed them there, and 'tis el&s;ewhere a figurative &s;peech, to expre&s;&s;e wicked men, who are called <HI>Pri&s;oners</HI> and in <HI>Pri&s;on,</HI> that is, <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 42.7. and <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 49.9. and bound in <HI>Pri&s;on, I&s;a.</HI> 61.1. to the&s;e <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> that is, <HI>God eternall, who was ye&s;ter|day, and to day, and forever,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> went and preached, in or by that <HI>Spirit,</HI> not per&s;onally, but by <HI>Noah</HI> the <HI>Preacher</HI> of <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> to the old world, by whom he gave tho&s;e treatable warnings, to them who made no u&s;e of the light of <HI>Nature,</HI> premoni&s;hing them of that <HI>Deluge</HI> of <HI>wrath,</HI> which <HI>God</HI> was preparing again&s;t <HI>impenitent</HI> and <HI>obdurate &s;inners.</HI> Taking this to be the true and genuine meaning of the words, (for you will much a&s;&s;i&s;t my mode&s;ty, if you plea&s;e to call it &s;a|tisfaction)
<PB N="14" REF="10">there naturally arifeth this en&s;uing Corol|lary. That</P>
<P><HI>God,</HI> before he proceedeth in judgement again&s;t a <HI>People,</HI> giveth &s;ome <HI>&s;ignall premonitions,</HI> to forewarne them of their intended ruine.</P>
<P><HI>Chri&s;t</HI> here by his <HI>Spirit</HI> went and preached to the <HI>Old world,</HI> before he brought upon them the <HI>Deluge,</HI> and inundation of waters: <HI>God</HI> is not in this ca&s;e like the <HI>Cannon,</HI> which fir&s;t Executes, and then Reports, but he fir&s;t makes the Report, that afterwards there may be no need of the <HI>Execution. God</HI> needed not to have given the&s;e men any warning of his <HI>judgment,</HI> they gave him no warning of their <HI>&s;inne,</HI> no re&s;pit: Yet that he might approve his mercies to the very wicked, he gives them one hundred and twenty yeares re&s;pite of repent|ing. How loath is he to &s;trike, who threats and treats &s;o fruitle&s;ly, &s;o ineffectually? Had he delighted in revenge, how ea|&s;ily, how ju&s;tly might he have &s;urprized them unawares? where|as giving them warning, it was a &s;ign he de&s;ired to be prevent|ed: The &s;ame Method doth he ob&s;erve towards <HI>Sodom,</HI> di&s;play|ing his white flag of <HI>Mercy,</HI> before he hung forth his black flagge of <HI>Defiance;</HI> ju&s;t <HI>Lot</HI> warneth them like a <HI>Prophet,</HI> ad|vi&s;eth them as a <HI>Father: Nineveh</HI> had <HI>Jonah</HI> di&s;patched to her, to &s;tand <HI>Sentinell, yet within forty dayes, and Nineveh &s;hall be de&s;troyed.</HI> Nor was <HI>I&s;rael</HI> exempted, from being par|taker of this royall favour: <HI>God</HI> &s;ent his Prophets to warn her to <HI>repentance, Judges</HI> 6.1. And he &s;ent them <HI>Prophets to bring them back again to the Lord,</HI> 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 24.19. <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;aith Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome.</HI> He foretelleth what he will bring upon us, for this end, that he may not bring it upon us, and warneth before he &s;triketh, to make us carefull to avoid the &s;troke: Peru&s;e all the <HI>Prophets</HI> of <HI>God</HI> in former dayes, employed for <HI>I&s;rael</HI>'s reducement, and we &s;hall finde <HI>Promi&s;es</HI> mixt with <HI>threats,</HI> and &s;till, <HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord,</HI> or, <HI>The word of the Lord came unto me,</HI> is prefixed in the Fronte&s;piece of all their <HI>Emba&s;&s;ies.</HI> She had her &s;edulous watchment &s;tanding upon the top of her <HI>Towers,</HI> &s;triking up <HI>Alarums</HI> at the approach of dangers. Nor doth he onely premoni&s;h by the voice of his
<PB N="15" REF="10">word, but his workes likewi&s;e have oftentimes a language in them, calling upon men to provide for their &s;afety and &s;ecu|rity: <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> may bear me witne&s;&s;e in this particular: The prodigious <HI>Earthquakes,</HI> the <HI>portentous Eclip&s;e</HI> of the <HI>Sun,</HI> the <HI>Comet</HI> like a <HI>flaming Sword</HI> hanging over the <HI>City,</HI> and con|tinuing a yeare, the great <HI>Light</HI> &s;hining about the <HI>Altar,</HI> and the <HI>Temple,</HI> about nine a clock of the night, upon the <HI>Fea&s;t of unleavened bread,</HI> the <HI>Meteors</HI> &s;een through all her <HI>Regions;</HI> the apparation in the <HI>clouds,</HI> of <HI>Chariots</HI> and <HI>troops,</HI> of armed men encompa&s;&s;ing her walls, and many &s;uch things of the like nature, <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> calls them, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and againe, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Prodi|gies</HI> and <HI>Sermons</HI> of God him&s;elfe, manife&s;tly fore-&s;ignifying the approaching de&s;olation: Thus <HI>God</HI> di&s;chargeth the&s;e warning-pieces over our heads, before he gives fire to the Murdering-pieces at our Hearts, and in briefe, the&s;e three en|&s;uing <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> may be given:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Ad benevolentiam indicandam.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Ad apologiam tollendam.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Ad vindictam acuendam.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Ad benevolentiam indicandam,</HI> to declare his loving kind|ne&s;&s;e to the Sons of Men, <HI>God who is rich in Mercy, Eph.</HI> 2.4. and delighteth to be &s;tiled the <HI>God of Mercies, Nehem.</HI> 9.31. and the <HI>Father of Merciet,</HI> 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1.3. abundantly manife&s;teth his mercy in dealing thus graciou&s;ly, in giving &s;uch timely notice of his approaching judgement, and therefore is it he that doth <HI>arripere an&s;am,</HI> take all advantages as it were, and lay hold on all occa&s;ions to doe good, but to puni&s;h and take vengeance is <HI>opus alienum,</HI> as &s;ome expound that in <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 28. His &s;trange worke, his &s;trange act, an employment wherein he taketh no delight: <HI>As I live, &s;aith the Lord, I have no plea&s;ure in the death of the wicked.</HI> Hence proceed tho&s;e debatements, tho&s;e rowlings and &s;oundings of bowells, tho&s;e yearnings within him to &s;hew compa&s;&s;ion, as if it were po&s;&s;ible he could, he would reconcile his <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> and <HI>Mercy,</HI> to be <HI>Ju&s;t</HI> to the <HI>Sinne,</HI> and yet be <HI>Mercifull</HI> to the <HI>Sinner: O Ephraim what &s;hall I doe unto thee? O Judah how &s;hall I entreat thee? and
<PB N="16" REF="11">why will yo dye O hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI> The&s;e are the Expo&s;tulations God u&s;eth with men, whereby they may di&s;cerne how they have provoked an unwilling inflicter: Vengeance cometh on heavily, and drawes a &s;igh from God, when he is nece&s;&s;itated to prepare his Rodde, to un&s;heath his Sword, to bend his Bow, and make ready his Quiver: <HI>Heu con&s;olabor! Ah I mu&s;t, I &s;ee there is no remedy, ea&s;e me of mine Adver&s;aries, and avenge me of mine Enemies. Slow to anger, and loath to &s;trike.</HI></P>
<Q>Quique dolet quoties cogitur e&s;&s;e ferox.</Q>
<P>But gracious and mercifull, and of great kindne&s;&s;e, abun|dant in Truth, <HI>Joel</HI> 2.13. which is the fir&s;t rea&s;on a&s;&s;igned for our Doctrine.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Ad Apologiam tollendam,</HI> to cut off all manner of ex|cu&s;e, to elide all their Apologies, to evacuate all the eva&s;ions which the wits of men are apt to frame and contrive in their owne behalfe. <HI>If I had not come and &s;poke unto them</HI> (&s;aith our Saviour) <HI>they had not had &s;inne, but now they have no cloak for their &s;inne, John</HI> 15.22. Here is that which &s;hall &s;top the mouthes of all prophane men, that neither would <HI>Judge|ments</HI> drive them, nor <HI>Mercies</HI> draw them to repentance. <HI>Who&s;oever heareth the &s;ound of the Trumpet, and taketh no war|ning, his blood &s;hall be upon him: Ezek.</HI> 33.4. God demands, <HI>What could have been done more?</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 5.</NOTE> as if he would have been better to us, had we been better to our own &s;elves.
<Q><L>Sed nos per no&s;trum, non patimur &s;celus</L>
<L>Iracundo Deum ponere fulmina.</L></Q> Sinners &s;tanding out again&s;t all admonitions, weave the web of their owne ruine, and are the unhappy Artificers of their own de&s;truction; <HI>Julian</HI> gave for his Armes in his E&s;cutcheon an Eagle &s;truck through the heart, with a flight Shaft feathered out of her own wings, with this Motto:
<Q>&mdash;Propriis configimur alis.</Q>
<PB N="17" REF="11">A perfect Embleme of depraved man. Our Death flyes to us with our owne wings, and our owne Feathers pierce us to the heart: <HI>Perditio tua ex te, O I&s;rael; thou ha&s;t de&s;troyed thy &s;elfe, O I&s;rael:</HI> we mu&s;t &s;ay with <HI>Jeru&s;aleus, The Lord is righ|teous, but we have rebelled again&s;t him;</HI> which may &s;erve as the &s;econd <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> for confirmation of the <HI>Doctrine.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Ad vindictam acuendam,</HI> when the&s;e di&s;tributions of favours prevaile nothing but to encourage and harden men in their &s;innes: it exa&s;perates judgement, and &s;harpens re|venge again&s;t them. <HI>Lae&s;a patientia fit furor,</HI> Love neglected, turnes into the mo&s;t de&s;perate Hatred, as the &s;weete&s;t Wines make the tarte&s;t Vinegar: The more bonds of Duty, the more Plagues for neglect: This was it which aggravated <HI>I&s;|raels</HI> &s;inne, that God had known her of all the Families of the Earth, therefore he would &s;urely puni&s;h her for all her ini|quities, <HI>Amos</HI> 3.2. When wi&s;dome had made her un&s;ucce&s;&s;e|full addre&s;&s;es to the world, in the fir&s;t Chapter of the <HI>Pro|verbs,</HI> when her warnings were all &s;lighted, her invitations neglected, as if her eyes had fla&s;hed like Lightning, her voice ecchoes and re&s;ounds like Thunder; <HI>Becau&s;e I have called and ye refu&s;ed, I have &s;tretched out mine hand, and no man regar|ded; but ye have &s;et at nought all my Coun&s;ell, and would have none of my reproofe, I will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your feare cometh;</HI> and to the end of the Chapter, &s;he goes on enraged with an holy fury; which things being premi&s;ed; I &s;hall give you one or two inferences, with which I &s;hall put a period to my pre&s;ent employment.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>Gratitudinem &s;uadet,</HI> It &s;trongly obligeth us to grate|full returnes of Prayers, and Prai&s;es: God though he hath put a cup of affliction into our hands, yet is it &s;weetned with &s;ome ingredients of <HI>Mercy;</HI> though he hath fed us with bread of <HI>Adver&s;ity,</HI> and waters of <HI>Affliction,</HI> yet are not our teach|ers removed into Corners, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 30.20. we need not with <HI>E|lie</HI>'s Daughter, name <HI>England, Ichabod,</HI> the <HI>Arke</HI> and glory of the <HI>Lord</HI> is not as yet, God be thanked, taken away from us. Even amid&s;t the neighing of Hor&s;es, and ratling of Ar|mour, amid&s;t the &s;ound of the Drums and Trumpets, &s;till have we tho&s;e who blow the Trumpet in <HI>Sion,</HI> and &s;ound an alarum
<PB N="18" REF="12">upon Gods holy Mountaine. Speak O Son! whether in all thy travels from <HI>Ea&s;t</HI> to <HI>We&s;t,</HI> from one quarter of the <HI>Heaven,</HI> even to the other, did thine eyes behold &s;uch an illightned <HI>Go&s;hen,</HI> ble&s;&s;ed with the number of Gods Emba&s;&s;adors, faithfully di&s;|charging their Mini&s;teriall duties? let us therefore labour to live an&s;werably and proportionably to this <HI>Mercy,</HI> let us walk as becometh the Go&s;pell. It is &s;toried of <HI>Marcus Manlius,</HI> having de&s;erved well of the <HI>Roman</HI> &s;tate for defending the Ca|pitoll, afterwards upon occa&s;ion, fell into disfavour with the people, was adjudged to death; however, their gratitude prompted them &s;o farre, as that they would not execute him in any place, from whence they might di&s;cover any part of the Capitoll: at la&s;t in the <HI>Peteline</HI> Grove, from whence no Pi|nacle of that Edifice could be di&s;cerned, he was put to death; It is a wonder men can finde any corner to &s;inne in, any place to let loo&s;e the reines to a licentious exorbitancy, e&s;pecially &s;ince which way &s;oever men turne their eyes, they meet with &s;ome &s;ignall objects of Divine favour, and &s;hould be en|gagements to &s;top and check us in our full carriere of &s;inning: nay yet more, to take up the Prophets <HI>Hallelujah; O enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his Courts with prai&s;e, be thankefull unto him, and speak good of his name; For the Lord is gracious,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, (though many more might have been added) <HI>excitet indu&s;triam,</HI> let the&s;e premonitions have what they chiefly call for, and that is our amendment and reformation,
<Q>Di&s;cite ju&s;titiam moniti non temnere divos.</Q> Sure I am, every one of us, have had our hands in pulling down judgments, we are therefore deeply concerned to prevent them for the future: From the highe&s;t to the lowe&s;t, we have contributed our Talent, and ca&s;t in our Oyle to encrea&s;e the flames: Let us at la&s;t after &s;o many warnings &s;hot off from Heaven, bring our buckets to extingui&s;h them. To what pur|po&s;e thinke you is it that God all this while hath not &s;topt the mouths of his <HI>Harbingers,</HI> nor yet cancelled their Commi&s;&s;i|on? The&s;e Olive-branches in their Mouths, are reall invita|tions
<PB N="19" REF="12">to reconciliation: We wooe, and we wooe, we entreat, and we threat, and all <GAP DESC="foreign">, and will neither move or conquer us?</P>
<P>I believe there is none &s;uch a &s;tranger in our <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> but knowes how it fareth with us, and that the time is come, that <HI>God ari&s;e and have Mercy upon us, yea the time is come: For why her Servants thinke upon her &s;tones, and it pittieth them to &s;ee her lying in the Dust.</HI></P>
<P>That which remaineth for us to performe, is, that we entreat Almighty God, that being taught by his Word, and admo|ni&s;hed by his Rod, and humbled under his correcting hand, we &s;hould flye to his <HI>Mercy,</HI> acknowledge his <HI>Ju&s;tice,</HI> implore his <HI>Favour,</HI> for the pardon of our <HI>Sinnes,</HI> for the amendment of our <HI>Lives,</HI> and for the Salvation of our <HI>Souls,</HI> and all for the merits and mediation of <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t the Righteous:</HI> To whom with the <HI>Father,</HI> and the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> be all Honour and Glo|ry, Prai&s;e, Power, Might, Maje&s;ty, Dignity and Dominion a&s;cribed. <HI>Amen, Amen.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
