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<DATE>2014-01-14</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE RESULT OF A DIALOGVE concerning the MIDLE-STATE of SOULS.</P>
<P>Wherein is a&s;&s;erted The Ancient Doctrine of their Relief, obtainable by Prayers, Alms, &amp;c. before the Day of Judgment.</P>
<P>By <HI>F. D.</HI> Profe&s;&s;or of Divinity.</P>
<P>Printed at <HI>PARIS, Permi&s;&s;u Superiorum.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>For the Right Ho|norable and Learned, <HI>Henry</HI> Lord <HI>Arundel</HI> of <HI>Warder, &amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD>The <HI>Mecoenas</HI> of all Lear|ning and Vertue.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>May it plea&s;e your Lord&s;hip,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>SOme <HI>Ari&s;topha|nes,</HI> removing the controver&s;y of the <HI>Midle-&s;tate of Soules</HI> out of the Schools, and improvid ently thrust|ing it (in Engli&s;h) into
<PB REF="3">the hands of Ladies, who&s;e <HI>curio&s;ity</HI> is not alwayes proportioned to their <HI>capacity,</HI> hath been in&s;trumentall of great Scandall. Hence upon intreaty of &s;uch, who may command, I interpo&s;ed, endeavour|ing to clear the &s;tate of the Question, as I thought, without vio|lence, it might import; this occa&s;ioned a reci|procation of Epistles, wherein I would gladly
<PB REF="3">prevent all mi&s;under|&s;tandings, as al&s;o in the <HI>Synop&s;is</HI> of our Tenets, which I formerly gave in &s;uch matters, which were e&s;teemed proper for the times.</P>
<P>The <HI>Re&s;ult</HI> I pre&s;ent to your Lord&s;hips most judicious view, al&s;o to your noble Patronage. If it conduce to any good, I &s;hall be &s;ure of the guerdon I hope for. Your Lord&s;hips heredi|tary goodne&s;&s;e will par|don
<PB REF="4">my boldne&s;&s;e, en|couraged by your known Vertue, and great love of Truth, who ambi|tiou&s;ly &s;ub&s;cribe, what by many titles, my duty obligeth me to be,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>My Lord,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your Lord&s;hip's mo&s;t devoted &s;ervant in all duty, <HI>F. D.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>A Table of the Chapters.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>CHap. 1. <HI>Relief in Purgato|ry is the Doctrine of holy Church</HI> 1</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 2. <HI>It is not matter of Opinion</HI> 11</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 3. <HI>Why the Re&s;urrection is inculcated</HI> 15</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 4. <HI>The &s;en&s;es of Greek and Latine Liturgies and Fa|thers</HI> 24</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cha. 5. <HI>Traditions alone cannot prove faith in all Articles</HI> 45</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 6. <HI>Charity con&s;i&s;ts with Purgatory. The various ope|rations of Charity. Wherein con&s;ists the chiefe penalty of Purgatory?</HI> 48</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 7. <HI>How a &s;oul, according to others, can change? Of the horror of Doom&s;day. Whether it is to be prayed for?</HI> 67</ITEM>
<PB REF="5">
<ITEM>Chap. 8. <HI>Whether a &s;oul can be changed by God, and how, in Purgatory? The true &s;tate of the controver&s;ie explicated</HI> 89</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 9. <HI>The &s;tate of the Que|&s;tion further explicated. The difference betwixt an in&s;tant of time, and aeviternity declared. The re&s;olution of the Que&s;tion fully given, as to change of &s;ouls</HI> 99</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 10. <HI>Scriptures and Tra|ditions mu&s;t be obeyed. How one can &s;atisfie for another? Whether, and how, other ver|tues be&s;ides charity, avail to|wards Heaven?</HI> 117</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 11. <HI>How corporal afflicti|ons can &s;atisfie for &s;ins. Whe|ther a probable Opinion may be followed</HI> 127</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chap. 12. <HI>The de&s;igne of the Treati&s;e</HI> 140</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>The Re&s;ult of a DIALOGVE concerning the MIDLE-STATE of SOULES.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. I. <HI>Relief in Purgatory is the Doctrine of holy Church.</HI></HEAD>
<P>IN our la&s;t <HI>Epi&s;tolary Conference</HI> concerning the &s;en&s;e of the <HI>Gene|ral
<PB N="2" REF="6">Councel</HI> of <HI>Florence,</HI> and of <HI>Pope Benedict</HI> the eleventh, his <HI>Bul,</HI> again&s;t tho&s;e who hold, that <HI>none went to Heaven till the day of Judgement;</HI> you much in&s;i&s;ted, that neither of them defined a Redemption out of <HI>Pur|gatory</HI> before the great day. The Greeks there called it <GAP DESC="foreign">. It mu&s;t be confe&s;s'd, that their principall de&s;ign was the condemnation of <HI>Joh.</HI> 22. his error, which though he recanted, yet to pre|vent any re&s;u&s;citation of it, it was judged nece&s;|&s;ary conciliarly to con|demn
<PB N="3" REF="6">it. In di&s;cu&s;&s;ing, or rather explicating the latitude of this, they de|&s;cended to particulars, <HI>Who</HI> and <HI>When</HI> each &s;ort went to Heaven, either at, or after their deaths, according to their &s;eve|ral conditions; and there|in delivered their &s;ence of this, as being in part involved in the former. So that it was a Conci|liary Declaration of the Churches Doctrine, as to this: that is, of the whole Chri&s;tian World, as all prior or po&s;terior Do|ctors, not violented (for it is ea&s;ie to mi&s;-apply,
<PB N="4" REF="7">and even elude the Fa|thers with voluntary glo&s;&s;es out of <HI>Chamier,</HI> and other &s;uch like bla|&s;ted Authors) and the u|niver&s;al tradition orally delivered, and the con|&s;tant practice of all Ca|tholiques, declare.</P>
<P>See in S. <HI>John Dama&s;|cen</HI> almo&s;t all the <HI>Greek Fathers,</HI> even inclu&s;ively, from great <HI>Dyoni&s;ius</HI> to him&s;elfe, and &s;ome of the Latines al&s;o are re|corded in him, who all a&s;&s;ert this, and &s;ay, that from our Lords Di&s;ciples it de&s;cended, &amp; obtain|ed in, and through the
<PB N="5" REF="7">whole Church of God with great profit to the dead. And that you may clearly by one under|&s;tand the received inter|pretation of the re&s;t, &s;ee there the &s;tory of great <HI>Macarius,</HI> who had from God this An&s;wer: <HI>Quo tempore,</HI> inquit, <HI>mortuo|rum cau&s;a preces offers, tum &s;ane nonnullius &s;ola|tii &s;en&s;u afficimur.</HI> Thus a dead man's &s;kull an|&s;wered him. We mu&s;t not then expect <HI>Doom&s;|day</HI> for an an&s;wer of our Prayers. Nay, S. <HI>Dama|&s;cen</HI> &s;aith, it is a <HI>new, ab|&s;urd</HI> doctrine, &s;ugge&s;ted
<PB N="6" REF="8">by the Devil, <HI>Pia omnia opera, quae mortem &s;equun|tur, nullam omnino defun|ctis utilitatem afferre:</HI> &amp; truly his ingenuous &s;en&s;e is, that to deny any pro|fit by them before the day of Judgment to the dead, de&s;cends from the Devil. I refer you to all the Fa|thers in him; whence you will &s;ee how they are vio|lented for the contrary by others.</P>
<P>It is a mo&s;t unque&s;tion|able rule in this matter, as to the affirmative, though <HI>a posteriori</HI> (as we &s;peak) among&s;t all probable Doctors, who
<PB N="7" REF="8">have the honour to have their memories celebra|ted in the Fa&s;ts of the Schools, <HI>That what&s;oever is declared in a Generall Councel, which is received, or not</HI> impun&egrave; <HI>re&s;i&s;ted by Catholique Doctors of the age wherein it is celebra|ted, is by all Christians to he admitted in the &s;ame degree in which it is there declared.</HI> Which Rule comes home to all points by Sectaries now contro|verted, as I have parti|cularized in my <HI>Sy&s;tem:</HI> and e&s;pecially compels us to an acceptance of this pre&s;ent <HI>Article,</HI> ac|cording
<PB N="8" REF="9">to the &s;ame place it obtained in the <HI>Coun|cel</HI> of <HI>Florence,</HI> and the age wherein it was cele|brated. The fir&s;t I have &s;pecified as far as this place permits. The later is evident by all Writers then, and ever &s;ince, in the <HI>Church:</HI> though <HI>Mar|cus Ephe&s;ius,</HI> an eminent Greek Schi&s;matique, if not rather an Heretique, who was pre&s;ent in the Councel, recalcitrated in vain again&s;t it, in &s;ome particulars, but not a|gain&s;t this at all; which &s;till confirmes us in it. <HI>Gennadius,</HI> the <HI>Patriarch</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="9">&s;aith, this Councel was, <HI>ubique promulgatum, &amp; ab omnibus gentibus re|ceptum:</HI> only <HI>vulgares quidam homines, &amp; in|docti</HI> did contradict. He adds, if any capable of rea&s;on re&s;i&s;ted, it was pravity of mind, not lear|ning but fooli&s;h pre|&s;umption and vain glory, which moved it. Here he glances at <HI>Marck,</HI> and others deceived by him. All this faithfully appli|ed, irrefragably declares our obligation to accept this truth accordingly.</P>
<P>And moreover as to us in particular, the ge|neral
<PB N="10" REF="10">re&s;i&s;tance made a|gain&s;t this new Purgato|ry, by all at the very fir&s;t dawning of it in our in|&s;ulary Hemi&s;phere, as being a novilty oppo&s;ite to what all from their infancies had learned, convinces the &s;ame. Nay Mr. <HI>Whites Sonus Bucci|nae</HI> will inferre &s;o much, and alone &s;uffice accor|ding to him, to prove matters even of Faith. But let us go further: if every per&s;on from hence to <HI>Cades</HI> in <HI>Spain,</HI> and from thence to <HI>Rome,</HI> and from thence to <HI>Con|&s;tantinople,</HI> and from
<PB N="11" REF="10">thence to <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> through both Churches were asked, whether in their prayers for the dead, they do not hope to help them to Heaven before the la&s;t day? eve|ry one would a&s;&s;ert it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. II. <HI>It is not matter of Opi|nion.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THerefore mo&s;t cer|tainly the hope of pre&s;ent ea&s;ing them, was not grounded on matter of Opinion, which intrin|&s;ically involves actuall fear, or doubt, of the
<PB N="12" REF="11">truth, el&s;e they would have praied faintly: but it is a traditionary do|ctrine, and under that notion, by all under|&s;tood. Hence we never read in Scriptures, Coun|cels, or Fathers, any one clear a&s;&s;ertion (as &s;uffici|ently appears in tho&s;e which are mo&s;t urged) That <HI>all tho&s;e that go to Purgatory mu&s;t be nece&s;|&s;arily detained there, without any relief, till the day of judgement;</HI> which &s;ure were impo&s;&s;ible, if there had been any fluctuation in it, or if they had been of that o|pinion,
<PB N="13" REF="11">as &s;ome gently per&s;wade us.</P>
<P>That &s;ome things have been delivered to po&s;te|rity in the Church, which could never obtain more authority then opinion, I have made evident in my <HI>Sy&s;tem,</HI> even in grave Subjects of which num|ber this was not: but how to di&s;tingui&s;h &s;uch from doctrines of a high|er nature, in ca&s;e Holy Church did not conveigh clearly their qualificati|ons with them, as in &s;ome ca&s;es, evidently it did and in others it did not, as there I give in&s;tances;
<PB N="14" REF="12">then the onely way is to return to <HI>general Coun|cels,</HI> that they according to their office may <HI>con|qui&s;itione facta,</HI> after the example of the Apo&s;tles, <HI>juridically</HI> appoint to each their &s;eats, where all mu&s;t <HI>acquie&s;ce,</HI> as here was done conforma|ble to all antiquity, as I have declared, and &s;hall more.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="15" REF="12">
<HEAD>CHAP. III. <HI>Why the re&s;urrection is inculcated.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe Holy <HI>Scriptures</HI> indeed, our B. <HI>Lord,</HI> and e&s;pecially, B. St. <HI>Paul,</HI> and &s;ince them, ho|ly Church, and Fathers, mo&s;t pre&s;&s;ingly incul|cates the truth of the ge|neral re&s;urrection, as be|ing the <HI>ba&s;is</HI> of our hope, the motive of piety, and good works; all which would be adjudged fruitle&s;s by the generali|ty of men, if it were not for this: though even <HI>A|ri&s;totle,</HI>
<PB N="16" REF="13">who with the re&s;t of his friends of <HI>Athens</HI> would have laughed to have heard Saint <HI>Paul</HI> Preach, and a&s;&s;ert it; yet they would judge vertue to carry and bring with it a pre&s;ent reward, for which it &s;hould be em|braced: but our expe|ctations are infinitely higher by our believed, and hoped for re&s;urrecti|on; and therefore it al|waies produced propor|tionate effects in Gods holy Martyrs, and Saints, e&s;pecially in tho&s;e fir&s;t times, as the cour&s;e of Gods providence requi|red,
<PB N="17" REF="13">and therefore there was a nece&s;&s;ity effectual|ly to &s;ettle this radical doctrine, as al&s;o of the la&s;t judgement to incul|cate a ju&s;t fear, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> did. This other of relief of &s;ouls, in, and out of Purgatory, being of far le&s;s concernment, as to the generality of man|kind, and being as it were a particular of it, or &s;ub|alternate to it, needed not &s;o &s;trong &amp; frequent inculcation, though holy Church did not take it up upon vulgar and light hear-&s;ayes, but with, and by the Apo&s;tles Praedica|tions:
<PB N="18" REF="14">which, according to S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> Rule, are &s;ufficiently proved by the Churches Doctrine, and practice. The holy Scriptures them&s;elves, as interpreted by antiqui|ty al&s;o declare it, which are obviou&s;ly knowne: Neither do the Texts, though brought with vio|lence, touch the contrary; nor were ever &s;o inter|preted. Some mi&s;take al|&s;o ari&s;eth in this bu&s;ine&s;s, from not ob&s;erving, that holy Scriptures, and from thence holy Church, and the Fathers frequently under&s;tand by Re&s;urre|ction,
<PB N="19" REF="14">even the a&s;&s;ump|tion of &s;ouls to Heaven without the bodies, and therefore S. <HI>Aug.</HI> calleth the later of &s;oul and bo|dy, the <HI>perfect</HI> re&s;urre|ction, as condi&s;tinct from the former, in his <HI>care of the dead, c.</HI> 6. But here we treat of the Churches practice and doctrine; which are cleare even among&s;t the Greekes as well as Latines: You know, that according to Mr. <HI>Ru&s;hworth,</HI> and Mr. <HI>White,</HI> (who&s;e authority cannot be denied by you) the publique practice, or oral conveyance, demon|&s;trates
<PB N="20" REF="15">univer&s;al Traditi|on, and con&s;equently Chri&s;tian Truths.</P>
<P>Therefore when I look upon the anxious &s;olici|tude, with which now, and in all former ages, good Chri&s;tians, Greeks and Latines, have pro&s;e|cuted their friends de|cea&s;ed with their Pray|ers, Alms-deeds, which all Chri&s;tian Monuments declare: methinkes it were &s;trange now at length to have all re|&s;olved into a cold Ob|lation, or Prayer for Doom&s;day: wherin their particular Allies are no
<PB N="21" REF="15">more concerned, than all others: &amp; &s;o all the pious indeavours of friends are of no effect, as relating to what they intended in order to particular per|&s;ons, but might as well be contracted into a ge|neral Prayer for all the dead, again&s;t not onely orall tradition, but the manife&s;t writings of the mo&s;t ancient and learned in the bulke of the Fa|thers; as S. <HI>Aug.</HI> is &s;uf|ficient te&s;timony for all the re&s;t, in his Treati&s;e of this &s;ubject, &s;tiled by him, <HI>A care of the dead,</HI> where he &s;uppo&s;eth it to
<PB N="22" REF="16">be the common &s;en&s;e of the whole Catholique Church, that particular per&s;ons dead, <HI>who have acquired merit in their life time, by which &s;uch things may be rendred profitable after death, do receive benefit by what is done for them religiou&s;ly after their decea&s;e:</HI> and he &s;peaks cleane through the whole Book of actual benefit, profit, help, ad|vantage, availment, and re&s;t to be procured for the &s;ouls. And le&s;t we &s;hould glo&s;&s;e it for the &s;oules in their reunion with their bodies, he
<PB N="23" REF="16">frequently &s;peakes con|di&s;tinctively of the &s;oule as &s;eparated from the bo|dy, or as it is when the <HI>body is dead;</HI> and he &s;aith, that then it <HI>recei|veth &s;uccour:</HI> which, as he &s;hews, and I have &s;aid, was the practice of all Churches in their pub|lique Liturgies. I do not e&s;teem it con&s;tancy, but ob&s;tinacy, to intort antiquity to our &s;en&s;e gain&s;t their own.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="24" REF="17">
<HEAD>CHAP. IV. <HI>The &s;ences of Greek, and Latine Lyturgies and Fathers.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AMong&s;t the Greeks, I ob&s;erve in their Liturgies, that &s;ome|times they pray with <HI>Ter|tullian, de Monogamia,</HI> that the dead may have <HI>refrigerium,</HI> that is, &s;ome ea&s;e, as S. <HI>Greg. Nazian.</HI> his Liturgie p. 34, in the Rubrick. Other times they pray, that they may be put into a place of light &s;omme&s;s, where &s;or|row is bani&s;ht and groa|ning,
<PB N="25" REF="17">&amp;c. as in S. <HI>Ba&s;ils</HI> Liturgie. Sometimes that they may re&s;t in <HI>Abra|hams</HI> bo&s;ome, as in S. <HI>James</HI> his Liturgie. All the&s;e intimate a change, a pre&s;ent relief, though not alwayes a relea&s;e, as the &s;tile evidently im|ports: which de&s;troyes your very ground; for you teach that no pray|ers can relieve, or change them till Doomes-day. S. <HI>James</HI> in his Lyturgie prayes, that God would cau&s;e the &s;ouls to re&s;t with the Saints. You &s;ay, he meanes, that they may not re&s;t, or have
<PB N="26" REF="18">ea&s;e, or light&s;omne&s;s, &amp;c. till after the day of judg|ment. Be&s;ides, they con|&s;tantly pray for the re|mi&s;&s;ion of their &s;ins, as in S. <HI>Ba&s;ils,</HI> and the re&s;t; this is not for the re&s;ur|rection: and finally they pray for all, who died in communion of the faith|ful, and for particular per&s;ons recommended to the Prie&s;t, in each parti|cular, exactly agreeing with the Roman Church.</P>
<P><HI>Hieremias,</HI> their <HI>Patri|arch,</HI> followes them, and the &s;en&s;e of both Church|es frequently appears to be, that by their prayers
<PB N="27" REF="18">they may obtain pre&s;ent ea&s;e, <HI>ut a poenis releven|tur,</HI> &s;aith the <HI>Councel of Florence</HI> in the decree in <HI>Gennadius.</HI></P>
<P>There was a que&s;tion among&s;t &s;ome of the an|cient, <HI>whether &s;ouls (ex|cept of Martyrs) had a fa|cial &s;ight of God before the la&s;t day:</HI> the pro|gre&s;&s;e of it I have exami|ned in my <HI>Sy&s;tem.</HI> Hence &s;ome &s;poke warily, tou|ching the full relea&s;e out of Purgatory; which in|volves a going to Hea|ven; but all agreed as to our pre&s;ent ea&s;e, and relief by Prayers, Alms|deeds,
<PB N="28" REF="19">&amp;c. The not ob|&s;erving this, hath made a mi&s;under&s;tanding of &s;om of the Fathers in this matter.</P>
<P>Truly &s;ometimes they pray expre&s;ly, that they may enter Heaven before the la&s;t day, as St. <HI>Am|bro&s;e</HI> upon the death of <HI>Theodo&s;ius: Dilexi, &amp; ideo pro&s;equar eum u&s;que ad regionem vivorum, nec de&s;eram donec fletu, &amp; precibus inducam eum, quo &s;ua merita vocant, in montem Domini &s;anctum, &amp;c.</HI> he will never leave praying, till by his pray|ers and teares he hath
<PB N="29" REF="19">brought him out of Pur|gatory to Heaven. We need no more for both <HI>Churches:</HI> he a great <HI>La|tine Bi&s;hop</HI> well acquain|ted with the &s;en&s;e of both Churches, promi&s;eth this for the <HI>Greek and La|tine Emperor,</HI> in pre&s;ence of the Emperor; al&s;o a <HI>Grecian</HI> born, and of the <HI>Court</HI> where were pre&s;ent as well <HI>Greeke</HI> as <HI>La|tine</HI> Prelats, and Do|ctors. If this had not been the publick &s;en&s;e of all <HI>Churches</HI> in their ob|&s;equies for the dead, there wanted not Zelots then, and after, who
<PB N="30" REF="20">would have reprehended this publique attempt, which you call <HI>Novelty,</HI> by them adjudged <HI>Pie|ty.</HI></P>
<P>St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome Homil.</HI> 41. <HI>in</HI> 1. <HI>ad Cor.</HI> after a long di&s;cour&s;e &s;aith thus: <HI>Si Jobi illius liberos pa|tris victima purgavit,</HI> (Job. 1.5.) <HI>quid dubites e nobis quoque &s;i pro dormientibus offeramus, &s;olatium quiddam ill is acce&s;&s;urum?</HI> This <HI>&s;ome comfort</HI> concludes a pre|&s;ent change upon our Prayers: this cannot &s;ig|nifie <HI>Heaven,</HI> where is no &s;uch diminutive, as <HI>quid|dam
<PB N="31" REF="20">&s;olatium:</HI> this &s;ure|ly cannot be <HI>Doom&s;day;</HI> which agrees with Saint <HI>Augu&s;tines, Neque negan|dum e&s;t, defunctorum ani|mas pietate &s;uorum viven|tium relevari, cum pro il|lis &s;acrificium Mediatoris offertur, vel eleemo&s;ynae in Eccle&s;ia fiunt, &amp;c.</HI> 9.2. <HI>ad Dulcitium:</HI> and in his <HI>Enchyridion</HI> to <HI>Lawrence c.</HI> 110. as el&s;ewhere he di&s;tingui&s;hes three &s;orts of the dead, whereof the midle are only capable of this help, and in his <HI>Care of the dead, c.</HI> 4. he tels us, that Chri&s;tians in their Prayers <HI>recommend the</HI>
<PB N="32" REF="21">third <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>by the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> Saints.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> take them <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">mpany when <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> ri&s;e, accord|ing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> you; but S. <HI>Aug.</HI> dre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">nd not of that good|fellow&s;hip, but pre&s;ent ea&s;e, for &s;urely S. <HI>Aug.</HI> his ea&s;ing them is a pre|&s;ent change. I could ren|der it fa&s;tidious to the Reader, if I &s;hould bring in particular the &s;en&s;e of <HI>Greek</HI> and <HI>Latine</HI> Fathers, which, in reading them, I have noted. And though &s;ome <HI>Criticks</HI> do not give a due e&s;teem of S. <HI>Grego|ry</HI> the great, and Venera|ble
<PB N="33" REF="21"><HI>Bede</HI> their Hi&s;tories, which <HI>Baronius</HI> elegantly defends; yet no man of rea&s;on can doubt, much le&s;&s;e deny, but that their loud approbation of the particular relea&s;es of &s;ouls, and the worlds not re&s;i&s;ting their truth, a|bundantly declare the &s;en&s;e of the whole Chri|&s;tian world to have been, That <HI>by Prayers &s;oules might be delivered out of Purgatory, before the la&s;t day.</HI> Nay, they did not only not re&s;i&s;t them, but both <HI>Greeks</HI> and <HI>Latines</HI> po&s;itively approved of them. For Pope <HI>Zachary</HI>
<PB N="34" REF="22">had his bookes of <HI>Dia|logues,</HI> without any re&s;tri|ction, in &s;o high e&s;teem, that he him&s;elfe with his approbation, tran&s;lated, and recomended them to the <HI>Greeks.</HI> And S. <HI>John Dama&s;een,</HI> and other <HI>Greeks,</HI> with much reve|rence received, and often cited them, as I have fre|quently noted: and ther|fore no wonder, that Ve|nerable <HI>Bede,</HI> following our fir&s;t Chri&s;tian Ma&s;ter, St. <HI>Gregory</HI> (though he him&s;elfe &s;harp-&s;ighted) gives more examples of the like; as al&s;o S. <HI>John Dama&s;cen.</HI> The&s;e two
<PB N="35" REF="22">(con&s;idering the eminency of their virtue and learn|ing, and both great Sear|chers of antiquity, and both received as A&s;&s;er|tors of truth in their re|&s;pective Ea&s;t and We&s;t Churches) may alone &s;uf|fice to witne&s;s the Chur|ches Doctrine. <HI>Now</HI> (as S. Aug. c. 10. <HI>in his Care of the Dead,</HI> &s;aith) <HI>if we &s;hould &s;ay, that the&s;e things were fal&s;e, we might be thought to u&s;e more boldne&s;&s;e than became us, both in regard of the wri|tings of &s;ome faithfull Chri&s;tians who report it, as al&s;o in regard of the
<PB N="36" REF="23">te&s;timony and &s;en&s;ible ex|perience of tho&s;e, to whom &s;uch vi&s;ions have hapned.</HI> May not this ju&s;tly be applied here?</P>
<P>Al&s;o con&s;ider who St. <HI>Gregory,</HI> Pope <HI>Zachary,</HI> and St. <HI>Chri&s;o &s;tom</HI> were, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> carry on their backs both the <HI>La|tine</HI> and <HI>Greek</HI> Churches. And hence the Councel of <HI>Florence</HI> in the very Decree (as I have noted in another Book) &s;peaking for, and in the name of both Churches, &s;ayes: <HI>We define,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>that tho&s;e &s;ouls, who, after they have contracted the ble|mi&s;h
<PB N="37" REF="23">of &s;in, are purged either in their bodies, or, being uncloathed of their bodies, are pre&s;ently re|ceived into Heaven:</HI> and Pope <HI>Benedict</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Be|fore the re&s;umption of their bodies.</HI> We can re|quire no more as to the Doctrine of both Chur|ches; &s;ince, as you &s;ee, the Decree is con&s;onant to both.</P>
<P>It's true that the <HI>Ro|man Lyturgie</HI> in the <HI>Se|quentia</HI> doth wonderful|ly inculcate the horror of Doom&s;day, partly to move us living to a right apprehen&s;ion of our con|cernment
<PB N="38" REF="24">in it; partly that the dead may re|ceive comfort before the la&s;t terrible day. Neither can the words have any other &s;en&s;e: for certain|ly the &s;ouls in <HI>Purgatory</HI> are not ambiguous of their judgement in that day, as all Chri&s;tians a|gree: and therefore the Church concluding, prays to God, to give all the Faithfull re&s;t from hence|forward, to prevent the rigour of that fearfull day.</P>
<P>It's truly a mi&s;take to &s;ay, the <HI>Greek</HI> Church did not admit this Do|ctrine
<PB N="39" REF="24">before the <HI>Councel of Florence,</HI> &s;ince it is mo&s;t evident, that their Doctrine was not at all changed, or di&s;liked even upon examination, as to this of <HI>ea&s;ing,</HI> and <HI>deliver|ing &s;ouls out of Purgato|ry,</HI> or tran&s;lating them into <HI>Abraham's</HI> bo&s;om by Prayers, &amp;c. but only in the beginning was exa|mined how far they a|greed with Pope <HI>John</HI>'s errour again&s;t the facial &s;ight of God; and this was amended by common con&s;ent. Nay, their pra|ctice was never que&s;tion|ed, or doubted of: which
<PB N="40" REF="25">was, and is, the &s;ame with the <HI>Latines,</HI> as hath been &s;hewed; and therefore <HI>Cyril</HI> repeating, and ex|pounding the manner of their Lyturgies, &s;aith: <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. That is, We believe that it will be a <HI>wonderfull help to the &s;ouls,</HI> for whom &s;uppli|cation is offered of this holy and terrible &s;acri|fice. Can any man refer this <HI>wonderfull help</HI> to a cold expectation of Doom&s;day? And hence we &s;ee in the third action of the General Councel of <HI>Calcedon,</HI> how the pro|ce&s;s
<PB N="41" REF="25">was admitted of <HI>I&s;|chyrion</HI> again&s;t <HI>Dio&s;corus</HI> for not having di&s;tributed faithfully, the abundant Alms by Legacy left to Mona&s;teries, for the &s;ouls of the decea&s;ed, which uniformly agrees with the Modern practi&s;e of both Churches; and ther|fore doubtle&s;s the &s;en&s;e of both Churches, as now they appear evidently to be the &s;ame; &s;o in all an|tiquity they were uni|form, as to hope of relief by prayers, e&s;pecially by Ma&s;&s;es, as there is clear, and in many private <HI>La|tine</HI> Synods.</P>
<PB N="42" REF="26">
<P> Neither can it be other than a great <HI>Sophi&s;m</HI> to accu&s;e the <HI>Roman Chur|ches Offertory,</HI> as if in praying to deliver the &s;ouls of the Faithfull <HI>a poenis inferni;</HI> which is a general term &s;ignifying both, and &s;o u&s;ed, it &s;hould import any thing el&s;e here, than from the <HI>pains of Purgatory</HI> to life: which cannot have any other &s;en&s;e than of <HI>Purgatory,</HI> &s;ince there is no redemption in Hell; and the &s;ouls for which they pray, die no other|wi&s;e.</P>
<PB N="43" REF="26">
<P> Again, the Church in the Collects prayes to give them <HI>refrigerii &s;e|dem,</HI> &amp;c. a &s;eat of re|fre&s;hment, which &s;peaks our <HI>Purgatory.</HI> The&s;e and all other Texts a&s;|&s;ure us of the Churches &s;en&s;e of praying to de|liver them before the great day: however by &s;trengh of wit the clea|re&s;t actions may be in or|der to weaker judge|ments made dubious, as we &s;ee in <HI>Courts,</HI> the be&s;t cau&s;es by corrupted <HI>ad|vocates,</HI> &s;o clouded, that they &s;eem unju&s;t. But the knowledge of this is
<PB N="44" REF="27">&s;o univer&s;al, that here may be &s;aid what St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine, lib. de duabus anim. c.</HI> 12, &s;aith of liber|ty: <HI>Nonne i&s;ta cantant &amp; in montibus pa&s;tores, &amp; theatris Poetae, &amp; in|docti in circulis, &amp; docti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> in Bibliothecis, &amp; Magi|&s;tri in &s;cholis, &amp; anti&s;ti|tes in locis &s;acris, &amp; in orbe terrarum genus hu|manum.</HI> All &s;orts of Chri&s;tians, each in their &s;everal po&s;tures, and vo|cations witne&s;s this truth.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="45" REF="27">
<HEAD>CHAP. V. <HI>Traditions alone cannot prove faith in all Ar|ticles.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THis was S. <HI>Hieroms,</HI> and all the Fathers <HI>one</HI> (though not <HI>only</HI>) con&s;tant te&s;t of new do|ctrines. And you profe&s;|&s;edly e&s;teeming the te&s;ti|mony of the pre&s;ent age to conveigh certainly the &s;en&s;e of the precedent, do, and mu&s;t con&s;equent|ly hold it to be an infalli|ble te&s;t, to di&s;cern even matters of Faith: &s;o
<PB N="46" REF="28">that <HI>ad hominem</HI> this were &s;trong, if we had onely the pre&s;ent age. But &s;urely <HI>Scriptures</HI> and <HI>Traditions</HI> are the ade|quate &s;ource of <HI>Chri&s;ti|an truths</HI> in the received opinion of Doctors. And the <HI>Councel of Trent</HI> in the fir&s;t Se&s;&s;ion &s;eems to &s;uppo&s;e it in order to the general. And truly all the former Councels did no le&s;s. Neither can I &s;ee that your <HI>Topick</HI> alone will &s;alve all occurren|ces, and therefore St. <HI>Paul</HI> refers the <HI>The&s;&s;alo|nians,</HI> to his Epi&s;tles and Sermons joyntly: and S.
<PB N="47" REF="28"><HI>Irenaeus l.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 4. &s;hews the nece&s;&s;ity of both: So S. <HI>Aug.</HI> and the re&s;t.</P>
<P>But by endeavouring to infringe any pretence of a definition, as to this of helping &s;ouls in Purga|tory before Doom&s;day, you &s;truck upon a <HI>medi|um,</HI> which, if not rightly under&s;tood, is of an ill con&s;equent.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="48" REF="29">
<HEAD>CHAP. VI. <HI>Charity con&s;i&s;ts with Pur|gatory. The various operations of chari|ty. Wherein con&s;i&s;ts the chiefe&s;t penalty of Purgatory.</HI></HEAD>
<P>FOr the purport of your di&s;cour&s;e &s;eems to hint at this, that a ne|ce&s;&s;ity of retention of &s;ouls out of heaven till due <HI>penal expiation</HI> be accompli&s;ht, will ener|vate the dignity of cha|rity. <HI>Cicero lib.</HI> 3. <HI>de fini|bus</HI> &s;aith notably, &s;peak|ing of Philo&s;ophy: <HI>Hu|ju&s;modi
<PB N="49" REF="29">dicere ornare velle, puerile e&s;t: plane autem, &amp; per&s;picue expe|dire po&s;&s;e, docti, &amp; intel|ligentis e&s;t viri.</HI> Your al|mo&s;t connatural ob&s;curi|ty renders you &s;ometimes to be mi&s;con&s;trued, to your prejudice. It is true, that charity, if perfect, is a &s;ufficient di&s;po&s;ition to glory; at lea&s;t as far as relates to exclu&s;ion of puni&s;hment for former tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions: which ea|&s;ily concludes, a &s;oul dy|ing in that perfect condi|tion, not to need any other temporary expiati|on. But the midle &s;ort
<PB N="50" REF="30">of Chri&s;tians, who onely have their concernment in <HI>Purgatory,</HI> according to Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> and the Councel of <HI>Florence,</HI> though they die indeed in charity, yet is &s;uppo|&s;ed not to be &s;o inten&s;e, as wholly to di&s;po&s;e their &s;ouls for pre&s;ent bli&s;&s;e. And therefore in order to &s;uch, the Church a&s;&s;erts further expiation, and penal detention, nece&s;&s;a|ry for a longer or a &s;hor|ter terme, according to the &s;ecret rules of Gods wi&s;dom: wherein though our time is not the mea|&s;ure of &s;piritual &s;ub&s;tan|ces,
<PB N="51" REF="30">or &s;ufferings, which have no parts to an&s;wer to the parts of our time, and therefore are not greater, or le&s;&s;e, for the extrin&s;ecal, and di&s;pa|rate con&s;ideration of a &s;horter, or longer conti|nuance, preci&s;ely as to time; yet their inward nece&s;&s;ity of exi&s;ting in that condition of &s;epara|tion, not only from their bodies, but from the &s;ight of God in the dregs of &s;in, till God changeth them, is highly penable, as being alwaies pre&s;ent to their intuition, and af|fection: whereas in bo|dies,
<PB N="52" REF="31">where every thing is mea&s;ured by motion, it would be far le&s;s, as ha|ving &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of parts, than now being altoge|ther, according to the nature of eviternity, which &s;urely renders it incomparably greater, than if it were by one part after another. And though it is indivi&s;ible as to its e&s;&s;ence, and exi&s;t|ence, being &s;piritual; and therefore cannot be mea|&s;ured otherwi&s;e than by a proportionable in-divi|&s;ible mea&s;ure, as now I will &s;uppo&s;e again&s;t &s;ome others; yet it hath
<PB N="53" REF="31">co-exi&s;tence with the parts of our time, as <HI>Ari|&s;totle</HI> 4. <HI>Phy&s;.</HI> &s;aith: <HI>Idem nunc &s;ecundum &s;ub|&s;tantiam differt &s;ecun|dum e&s;&s;e:</HI> that is, although an in&s;tant is the &s;ame in|divi&s;ible in order to it &s;elf, yet it differs as com|pared to time. And hence a &s;oul, which hath been in Purgatory twen|ty years, is truly &s;aid to have been longer there than another, which was &s;eperate from the body ye&s;terday; and con&s;e|quently hath &s;uffered the hard con&s;equences of it, even altogether &s;o long.</P>
<PB N="54" REF="32">
<P> If we &s;peculate this a little further, we find, that as indeed the &s;oul being in-divi&s;ible, it hath an in-divi&s;ible mea&s;ure; yet as that in&s;tant, or mea&s;ure called Aeviterni|ty, is alwaies and altoge|ther pre&s;ent; &s;o there is alwaies pre&s;ent in it a priority, which we call of nature. As Agents which are free, in the &s;ame real in&s;tant, when they re&s;olve to do any thing, have a priority of nature, wherein it is not affirmable, that they do re&s;olve, but are as it were about to do it: and
<PB N="55" REF="32">this continues &s;o long, as the real in&s;tant it &s;elf doth. And therefore <HI>A|ri&s;totle</HI> will tell us, that the will, even when it doth decree any thing, it hath power not to do it, that is, as referring to that priority of nature. Whence followes even in your own principles, that the &s;oul, which went to Purgatory many years agoe, is now as capable to have an act which it never had, as then, and therefore it may be as truly &s;aid to have an act this day, which it never had; and con&s;equently
<PB N="56" REF="33">may as truly be &s;aid to be changed. But this whole matter is fitter for the Schooles to di&s;pute, then for Chatechizers to in&s;truct in matter of Faith: of which more hereafter.</P>
<P>You &s;eem under a pre|tence of putting a due e&s;timate upon an ab|&s;tracted or a Metaphy&s;i|cated <HI>charity</HI> (for &s;uch yours almo&s;t &s;eems to be) very much to undervalue her operations in &s;uch pe|nal acts, or pa&s;&s;ions, as holy Church pre&s;ents to our belief in the dead. Nay, even all other cor|poral
<PB N="57" REF="33">afflictions, and au|&s;terities in this life, voluntarily undertaken, you are thought to judge <HI>&s;uperfluous</HI> (if not <HI>&s;uper&s;titious</HI>) and derogatory to chari|ty.</P>
<P>You know how far our neighbours have, by ur|ging this, reduced all Chri&s;tian duties of this kind, to &s;uch a pure wor|&s;hipping of God in &s;pirit, that there is no vi&s;ible foot&s;tep of any old au|&s;terities among&s;t them: and even all the&s;e old &s;ymptomes of Chri&s;tiani|ty, are with them by a
<PB N="58" REF="34">new &s;ort of <HI>Chymi&s;try,</HI> evaporated.</P>
<P>It &s;eems certain, ac|cording to the received doctrine of great Divines, (wherein you doe not wholly di&s;&s;ent) that all &s;ouls, which depart from their bodies, in a capaci|ty of Heaven, at their &s;e|paration, do appretiate God above all, and do heartily de&s;ire, that they had never placed any created object in his room; which is, never to have &s;inned mortally. Which doctrine methinks is con&s;equent to St. <HI>Tho|mas</HI> his opinion of infants
<PB N="59" REF="34">in their fir&s;t act of rea&s;on, applying them&s;elves to God. And this act, as I &s;aid, is e&s;teemed natural|ly indelible in the dead, according to their &s;tate, with which is con&s;i&s;tent a de&s;ire of fulfilling Gods Laws, in order to expia|tion of former &s;ins: nay, that is incon&s;i&s;tent with it &s;elf, without a de&s;ire of complyance with Gods ordinances, in this and e|very other kind. Whence follows, that their &s;uffe|rings after death, are vo|luntary, as relating to their former acts of con|formity to Gods orders,
<PB N="60" REF="35">and the virtual or habi|tual durance of it; how|&s;oever by &s;ome, &s;o pal|pable a truth is denied.</P>
<P>The whole univer&s;e therefore having been <HI>deformed</HI> in &s;ome man|ner, by our <HI>deordinati|ons,</HI> it mu&s;t be <HI>reform'd</HI> by our <HI>pennances.</HI> For, according to Divines, <HI>In|fligitur poena, ut ordine|tur culpa:</HI> and it is &s;o, e|ven following nature. So that the order of the U|niver&s;e, by Gods original po&s;ition of cau&s;es, exacts this method of us. There|fore there is no nece&s;&s;ity, which &s;ome are affrigh|ted
<PB N="61" REF="35">at &s;o much, to attri|bute their penal detenti|on to <HI>revenge</HI> in God; (though it is but <HI>quae&s;tio de nomine,</HI> as diver&s;ly ta|ken) &s;ince it is con&s;e|quent to our peccaminous acts, to be liable to it; e|&s;pecially holding, as truth &s;eems to convince, that the reliques of the &s;innes them&s;elves, or tho&s;e ve|ry &s;ins, of which the &s;ouls were guilty in death, re|main till the change of the &s;ouls after <HI>Purgation.</HI> Which doctrine is very conformable to <HI>Scotus;</HI> who holds, that <HI>venial &s;ins after proportionable
<PB N="62" REF="36">puni&s;hment in hell it &s;elf, cea&s;e to be;</HI> that is, after the remor&s;e and puni&s;h|ment, proportionable to &s;uch &s;in, cea&s;e; which, as I have noted el&s;ewhere, is <HI>Origen</HI>'s and <HI>Gregorie Ni&s;&s;enes</HI> clear doctrine: for they both &s;eem to ad|mit that only <HI>Purgatory.</HI> I &s;aid <HI>puni&s;hments,</HI> for which we now call pu|ni&s;hments, as to the minds remor&s;e for &s;in, in time of nature we would call effects of &s;in, as I &s;hewed, <HI>de Mundo.</HI></P>
<P>Its true, we have not injured God in our &s;ins, who is above, and be|yond,
<PB N="63" REF="36">the &s;pheres of our mo&s;t malitious activity; but our &s;elves are prin|cipally endamaged in mortal &s;ins, by lo&s;ing all title to Heaven, or at lea&s;t, by dimini&s;hing it, as in <HI>venial.</HI> Which lo&s;&s;e cau&s;ed by violation of his Lawes, mu&s;t be repai|red by charity, directing to &s;ubmit to, and to keep Gods Commandments, according to that Text of our Saviour: <HI>If you love me, keep my Comman|dements:</HI> whereof one is, to &s;ubmit to his orders in <HI>Purgatory,</HI> wherein this voluntary due cha|&s;ti&s;ement
<PB N="64" REF="37">at la&s;t will pro|cure remi&s;&s;ion of tho&s;e &s;ins, which remain, at the lea&s;t in their dregs.</P>
<P>Charity indeed hath God him&s;elf, under the noble&s;t motives, for its immediate object; but it is exerci&s;ed, not onely in a naked wi&s;hing, or wil|ling well to God, which is to love him; but it breaks out into a hearty complyance with all his orders. Hence St. <HI>Peter, John</HI> the la&s;t Chapter, v. 15. being demanded, whether <HI>he loved God?</HI> to his triplicated affir|mation was as often &s;ub|nected;
<PB N="65" REF="37"><HI>Feed my &s;heep, &amp;c.</HI> So that this love hath a great extent, though it alwaies terminates in God, as it begins in him. St. <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.4. tells us &s;ummarily, but <HI>pathetically,</HI> the further operation of charity: <HI>Charitas patiens est, be|nigna est, &amp;c.</HI> whence will follow, that charity can be exerci&s;ed, in fol|lowing any of Gods or|ders, in re&s;pect of the li|ving, or the dead, as in tho&s;e St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks of, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15.29. who were <HI>baptized,</HI> that is, &s;uffe|red for the dead, as
<PB N="66" REF="38">the Text clearly &s;peaks.</P>
<P>It is not then any in|dignity to charity, that good Chri&s;tians dying inve&s;ted with it, &s;hould be exerci&s;ed afterwards in expiation of former deordinations, by their pa&s;&s;ive complyance with Gods orders; which, dy|ing in charity, they could not but de&s;ire. This di|vine order being fulfil|led, and expiation being effected, the &s;oul is ren|dred, through Gods mer|cy, capable of her hoped &s;uperve&s;tition of eterni|ty.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="67" REF="38">
<HEAD>CHAP. VII. <HI>How a &s;oul, according to others, can change. Of the horror of Doomes-day. Whether it is to be prayed for.</HI></HEAD>
<P>I will now &s;uppo&s;e that borrowed principle out of <HI>Ari&s;totles</HI> Schooles, that <HI>the &s;oul is not capa|ble of any change, once &s;eparated from the body,</HI> as having not the fancy, whence the changes were occa&s;ioned. Which do|ctrine although I have taught in my <HI>System,</HI> and
<PB N="68" REF="39">&s;o do St. <HI>Thomas</HI> in his School, <HI>Henricus de Gan|davo,</HI> and others, as to natural cau&s;es; yet it will not reach &s;o far, as I con|ceive, as to build a con|&s;equence, &s;o remote from the common &s;en&s;e of Chri&s;tians, as this of all &s;oules, which do not im|mediately go to Heaven, or to Hel, their pre&s;tola|tion of the la&s;t day in Purgatory, and that then upon the reunion of their bodies, our ble&s;&s;ed Lord &s;hall repre&s;ent to our cor|poral eies his mo&s;t ble&s;|&s;ed humanity: of which he made us not capable
<PB N="69" REF="39">during our long expecta|tion in the &s;oules &s;epara|tion: upon &s;ight whereof they &s;hall fall into rap|tures of divine love, &amp;c.</P>
<P>The whole complex taken altogether, is the product of a great wit, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of much lear|ning, and, if kept within the Schooles (as we u&s;e frequently impo&s;&s;ible &s;uppo&s;itions) might exer|ci&s;e wits with profit, and applau&s;e, as I believe was intended: but where it toucheth upon a noble particle of our <HI>Religion,</HI> as here, the putting it into a vernacular Idiome is
<PB N="70" REF="40"><HI>dangerous,</HI> and again&s;t the <HI>Councel of Trent,</HI> in in this particular, <HI>Se&s;&s;.</HI> 25. <HI>Apud rudem ver&ograve; plebem difficiliores, ac &s;ubtiliores quae&s;tiones, quaeque ad ae|dificationem non faciunt, &amp; ex quibus plerunque nulla fit pietatis acce&s;&s;io, a popularibus concionibus &s;ecludantur: incerta item, vel quae &s;pecie fal&s;i labo|rant, evulgari, ac tractari, non permittant, &amp;c.</HI> This comes home. We are for|bidden to move the&s;e que&s;tions in Engli&s;h.</P>
<P><HI>Prayer for the Dead,</HI> as for &s;uch as are helped by it, being in an indigent
<PB N="71" REF="40">condition, is one of the mo&s;t univer&s;al, mo&s;t con|&s;tant, and mo&s;t &s;olemn practi&s;es of <HI>holy Church,</HI> as all Monuments de|clare: which by this your &s;peculation is rendred, &s;peaking really, of no u&s;e; as being re&s;olved by you onely into a Prayer for <HI>Doom&s;day:</HI> which will be terrible, when&s;o|ever it cometh; as holy Church intimates in the <HI>Sequentia: C&ugrave;m vix ju|&s;tus &s;it &s;ecurus;</HI> and <HI>quan|tus tremor e&s;t futurus.</HI> I am &s;ure S. <HI>Hierom</HI> had a formidable apprehen&s;ion of it, when he &s;aith, <HI>He
<PB N="72" REF="41">heard perpetually the fear|full &s;ound of the trumpet:</HI> and you hear how holy Church de&s;cribes it, even in order to the ju&s;t, in re|&s;pect of whom, S. <HI>Paul</HI> in the 10. of the Hebrews cals it, <HI>Terribilis quaedam expectatio judicii,</HI> a ter|rible expectation of judg|ment: and hence S. <HI>Hil|larius in P&s;al.</HI> 113. <HI>Quo|modo de&s;iderabile pote&s;t e&s;&s;e judicium, in quo nobis e&s;t indefe&s;&s;us ille ignis ob|eundus? &amp;c.</HI> How can that day be an object of our Prayers? &amp;c. The very Saints them&s;elves mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e through that
<PB N="73" REF="41">la&s;t fire, but as &s;ilver and gold: which can &s;tand a|gain&s;t the &s;evere te&s;t: &amp; this being done, they mu&s;t be Judges of us &s;in|ners. The Apo&s;tle &s;aith both. Out of which if we weigh the inexplicable &s;everity of that day, <HI>De|&s;iderare quis audebit?</HI> who, with S. <HI>Hilary,</HI> dare pray for it? and yet your main po&s;ition is, that this is only prayed for, and that, till that great day, the Saints, though in an indigent condition, are not capable to receive a|ny <HI>refrigerium,</HI> or ea&s;e, as the Fathers &s;peak, and
<PB N="74" REF="42">expre&s;ly prayed for in all the Churches Liturgies. Which is indeed a com|fortle&s;&s;e <HI>tenet</HI> to all Chri|&s;tians; and it toucheth too near upon the <HI>Church,</HI> and her doctrine, though mo&s;t Sectaries will ap|plaud it.</P>
<P>Shall I tell you how near it pre&s;&s;eth upon this Article? Truly (be&s;ides what I &s;aid in the former Chapters) I know not po&s;&s;ibly, how to render <HI>the prayers of holy Church for the dead,</HI> of any con|&s;iderable u&s;e at all, as ap|plied to, and for them, either in particular, or in
<PB N="75" REF="42">general, as they are <HI>con|di&s;tinct</HI> from the faith|ful living. I &s;poke before, that this <HI>tenet</HI> renders prayers for particular dead per&s;ons u&s;ele&s;s, as not at all corre&s;ponding with the de&s;ign of their friends, which evidently was, and is intended by all, in order to obtain|ing of ea&s;e and relief of &s;uch &s;ouls, for which they pray. But now by further weighing the nece&s;&s;ary con&s;equences of this <HI>te|net,</HI> it &s;eems evidently to conclude, all prayers for the dead, in effect u&s;ele&s;s, even as offered in gene|ral,
<PB N="76" REF="43">or for all in general, as well as for particular per&s;ons.</P>
<P>The rea&s;on is; fir&s;t, be|cau&s;e if we pray only for the general Re&s;urrection, (as you &s;ay) this concerns them not any more, nay, le&s;s, as being dead, than if they were living: be|cau&s;e they are already &s;ure of a happy re&s;urre|ction; &amp; in &s;ome degree, though yet in a &s;tate of puni&s;hment, as it were al|ready po&s;&s;e&s;t of it, or at lea&s;t, upon entring into it.</P>
<P>Secondly, the concern|ment of the general re|&s;urrection, in order to
<PB N="77" REF="43">Heaven, is &s;o urgent in re&s;pect of the faithfull living, and being yet wholly in the clouds, in re&s;pect of our knowledg, or any certainty of it, that our Prayers in true charity, ought to be far more fervent &amp; con&s;tant, for all the faithful living, as being in more nece&s;&s;i|ty, than for the dead, or at lea&s;t, for them both together, if this be all we are to pray for, by the Churches definition.</P>
<P>Whence methinks it concludes, that the Arti|cle of praying for the dead, either for particu|lars
<PB N="78" REF="44">or generals, is upon very &s;light grounds pre&s;|&s;ed, and ob&s;erved by holy Church in your princi|ples, &s;urely they con|vince, that the &s;ame pra|yers which are offred for the dead, ought to be offred, either for the li|ving and dead together, or el&s;e principally for the living. Whence follows, that there is no need at all of this article, refer|ring to the dead, as I &s;aid, condi&s;tinct from the li|ving; if there be no hope of pre&s;ent reliefe or re|lea&s;e, till the general re|&s;urrection. I do but give
<PB N="79" REF="44">you a hint, that you may further reflect upon it. This done, I proceed to the ground it &s;elf of your a&s;&s;ertion.</P>
<P>Indeed the great Ma|&s;ters of the World, and of the Schools, S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine, Alexander Hales, S. Bonaventure, Scotus</HI> in his book <HI>de anima,</HI> and many other eminent per|&s;ons, not e&s;teeming them|&s;elves to de&s;ert <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> teach us, the &s;ouls have a natural capacity of &s;om change without the body.</P>
<P>One ground is, they conceive the impo&s;&s;ibili|ty of change to be deri|ved
<PB N="80" REF="45">originally from the negation of matter (which <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> a&s;&s;erts <HI>principi|um corruptionis</HI>) which is &s;uppo&s;ed to accompa|ny all &s;pirituall things: but if materiality be con|&s;i&s;tent with the limited &s;implicity of our &s;ouls, as they endeavour to prove in <HI>Ari&s;totles</HI> principles; &s;ince they have <HI>individu|ation,</HI> and &s;ome <HI>compo&s;i|tion,</HI> in their &s;eparated &s;tate from the bodies, as they conceive to be clear in <HI>Metaphi&s;ical</HI> &s;peculati|ons: which if true, their con&s;equence is ea&s;ie for what relates to the na|ture
<PB N="81" REF="45" MS="y">of the &s;oule.</P>
<P>Do you examine this: it wants not great weight, even the force of <HI>Demon|&s;tration,</HI> in their judge|ments.</P>
<P>Again, S. <HI>Bonaventure</HI> holds <HI>Aeviternity</HI> to have a &s;ort of divi&s;ibility; w^c^h I &s;hall explicate in due place: his rea&s;on is, be|cau&s;e otherwi&s;e it will argue &s;ouls, and Angels to have actually infinite durance, being their du|rance continues <HI>in infini|tum,</HI> as all &s;uppo&s;e which he e&s;teems a great ab&s;ur|dity to a&s;&s;ert of any finite thing; as arguing infinite
<PB N="82" REF="46">vertue to require infinite durance <HI>together:</HI> which will conclude them to be infinite in e&s;&s;ence; which is again&s;t all our &s;uppo|&s;itions.</P>
<P>In the &s;ame manner will as ea&s;ily be conclu|ded, that a &s;eparate &s;oul hath actually an infinite knowledge of things; &s;ince the in&s;tant of aevi|ternity, which is immu|table, and <HI>altogether,</HI> continues <HI>in infinitum,</HI> and con&s;equently hath infinite objects pre&s;ent: of all which the &s;oul act|ually, and by its con|natural power, produ|ceth
<PB N="83" REF="46">knowledge <HI>toge|ther:</HI> which argues infi|nite vigor.</P>
<P>St. <HI>Bonavent.</HI> and the re&s;t, e&s;teem both the&s;e repugnant to a creature; though you &s;hould &s;ay, that each is derived from God: for &s;till it &s;tands that the &s;oul from its own nature, though derived from God, is <HI>infiniti vi|goris:</HI> which <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> ju&s;tly appropriates to God. Examine this, and weigh well, whether it doth not imply contradi|ction?</P>
<P>I a&s;&s;ure you that the&s;e pre&s;t home, will &s;ooner
<PB N="84" REF="47">be heightned to a <HI>demon|&s;tration,</HI> than mo&s;t of tho&s;e, which are urged for the contrary, with loud intonations of <HI>de|mon&s;trations.</HI> But if in <HI>Mathematicks,</HI> which are rendred pervious to our &s;ences, we cannot reach to <HI>demon&s;trations,</HI> but upon &s;wallowing ma|ny &s;uppo&s;itions without proof, what can we vain|gloriou&s;ly boa&s;t of, in the&s;e remote objects?</P>
<P>Its true, that a &s;oul &s;e|parate, cannot produce new habits in it &s;elf by acts, as now we do, by rea&s;on it hath all po&s;&s;i|ble
<PB N="85" REF="47">di&s;po&s;ition already, as being determined by nature to it; yet it is con|&s;i&s;tent with its <HI>aeviterni|ty,</HI> that the &s;oul have &s;ome new acts, at lea&s;t in order to &s;upernatural objects. Thus far S. <HI>Tho|mas, Scotus,</HI> and all agree; as Angels in holy Scrip|tures are recorded to have had in divers occur|rences.</P>
<P>St. <HI>Thomas, Henricus,</HI> and others, to make this good, invent a &s;ort of time; which they call, <HI>tem|pus di&s;cretum,</HI> (though <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> never heard of it) to mea&s;ure them by,
<PB N="86" REF="48">that is, where there is not a continuation by parts, as in our time, but each in&s;tant followes without ties. But I think there is no need to explicate one ob&s;curity by a greater: for indeed it is hard to conceive what one indi|vi&s;ible added to another, will have for the <HI>quoti|ent,</HI> but <HI>punctum;</HI> which will leave us where we were. And therefore &s;tay|ing in this rode, I think it clear, that the &s;ouls have acts; and that, according to their natures, they are mea&s;ured by <HI>aeviternity,</HI> in its proper &s;en&s;e; as
<PB N="87" REF="48"><HI>Scotus,</HI> and the re&s;t, teach: though <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> out of a fal&s;e principle of the &s;ouls ab&s;olute de|pendance upon the <HI>Fan|cy,</HI> denies a &s;eparated &s;oul to have any act at all: but <HI>Avicen</HI> &s;aith bet|ter, following <HI>Platoes,</HI> and, as he contends, <HI>A|ri&s;totles</HI> doctrin, as I have done in the <HI>System,</HI> that <HI>the &s;oul hath the &s;pecies of all things within it &s;elf.</HI></P>
<P>Others conceive, that without them, it hath actual knowledge of all: and therefore, as to natu|ral objects, the &s;oul in &s;tate of &s;eparation hath
<PB N="88" REF="49">knowledge of all; and con&s;equently (as they think) is ea&s;ily proved not to be &s;ubject to change in them: and which is very con&s;idera|ble, Mr. <HI>White</HI> goes no further, <HI>l.</HI> 4. <HI>lect.</HI> 4. <HI>Con|&s;tans itaque e&s;t, nullam mutationem ex naturae vi, in anima &s;eparata po&s;&s;e exi&s;tere.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="89" REF="49">
<HEAD>CHAP. VIII. <HI>Whether a &s;oul can be changed by God, and how, in Purgatory? The true &s;tate of the controver&s;ie explicated.</HI></HEAD>
<P>BUt when we &s;peak of the &s;oul in <HI>Purgatory,</HI> we &s;peak of a &s;upernatu|ral condition: in which ca&s;e, notwith&s;tanding its &s;pirituallity, it is movea|ble by objects of a &s;upe|rior order, (neither do I remember, that Ma&s;ter <HI>White</HI> que&s;tioneth this) of which it hath not con|naturally
<PB N="90" REF="50">any <HI>&s;pecies.</HI> Neither doth the pro|duction of any thing to a being after it had none, hinder it from being &s;pi|ritual, or aeviternal: el&s;e Angels, and our &s;ouls created in time, though not &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, or in the parts of time would mi&s;s of both.</P>
<P>For example: what re|pugnance is there in the &s;oul to be moved, if God &s;hall plea&s;e to pre&s;ent his ble&s;&s;ed humanity to it in the &s;tate of &s;eparation, as well as when it is again joyned to the body? tru|ly I doubt not, but it
<PB N="91" REF="50">would produce a far more noble, and more in|ten&s;e act, of the love of God in its &s;eparation; being far more powerful then, when it is united to the body, when it works onely by help, and order, of the fancy: as it mu&s;t doe according to cour&s;e of nature, at the fir&s;t ap|parition of that ble&s;&s;ed object; being the &s;oul is &s;uppo&s;ed not to be yet beatified.</P>
<P>I &s;ee not that &s;piritu|ality renders the &s;oul in|capable of that happi|ne&s;&s;e: and it is certain, that St. <HI>Paul</HI> thought it
<PB N="92" REF="51">not &s;o: whence he cryes: <HI>Sive in corpore, &s;ive ex|tra corpus, ne&s;cio.</HI> He would have known, if his &s;oul <HI>extra corpus,</HI> that is, in her &s;pirituallity, had repugned to the vi&s;ion.</P>
<P>If it be replyed, that this is &s;upernatural.</P>
<P>Is it not &s;o, that the &s;oul at la&s;t is reunited to the bodie; when you conceive it &s;hall love God more inten&s;ely? Nay is it not &s;o, that all ill affections, which it carri|ed out of this world, &s;hall remain till the reunion, and then be aboli&s;hed? What natural <HI>rea&s;on</HI> will
<PB N="93" REF="51"><HI>reach</HI> this? Nay, what principles of <HI>Religion</HI> will <HI>teach</HI> us, that the &s;ouls of good Chri&s;tians (for &s;o they mu&s;t be) &s;hall be detained in <HI>Pur|gatory,</HI> &s;o many ages com|prehended in aeviternity, as till Doom&s;day to no effect in order to the &s;oules; &s;ince the very dregs of &s;in, with which they parted from the bo|dies, and their ill affecti|ons, are not at all correct|ed or purged, by occa&s;i|on of that &s;tate, but re|main till after the reuni|on in all their degrees of intention? &s;o that their
<PB N="94" REF="52">remainder there, &s;eems u&s;ele&s;&s;e, &amp; indeed pure|ly vindicative: again&s;t which you much in&s;i&s;t.</P>
<P>Again, the whole &s;tate of the &s;oul here treated, is &s;upernatural, that is, under another <HI>&s;eries</HI> of cau&s;es, then being with the body. That the &s;oul continues in the &s;tate of &s;in, or dregs of it, where|in it is at the time of &s;e|paration, and in a conti|nual remor&s;e, or &s;ting of con&s;cience, according to that of St. <HI>Luke,</HI> c. 18. to the rich man: <HI>Recorda|re, quia recepi&s;ti bona in vita tua:</HI> Remember
<PB N="95" REF="52">what good things thou received&s;t in thy life. Al|&s;o in a mo&s;t afflictive, and almo&s;t a vexatious de&s;ire of <HI>Heaven:</HI> from which, as they know, &s;ins, or the dregs, retard them. All this is natural to it: but that this &s;tate is tempo|rary, and relating, or tending, to a change of eternal felicity; and that it is <HI>poenal,</HI> that is, <HI>infli|cted,</HI> as &s;uch, is above na|ture. (I meddle not here with, what other puni&s;h|ments, do, or may, ac|company this &s;tate.) No wonder then, if in this &s;upernatural condition,
<PB N="96" REF="53">it hath, when God plea|&s;eth, the&s;e &s;upernatural vi&s;its, by wayes, which we know not; in which, the &s;oul is &s;ubject to mu|tation: this I conceive &s;ufficient for the matter here treated, which is, the &s;ouls change in order to Heaven.</P>
<P>To deny this to the &s;ouls, is not to call in que&s;tion their naturall power, in which we are already agreed, as to the negative; but Gods po|wer, in order to them, which in our conference you granted.</P>
<PB N="97" REF="53">
<P> Whereas it may be ob|jected, that &s;till here is no diver&s;ity of parts, as an <HI>Agent</HI> and a <HI>Patient,</HI> in an indivi&s;ible &s;oule: which is required in all actions, even to avoid contradiction.</P>
<P>To this is replied, ac|cording to <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> 3^o. <HI>de An. ver&s;us fin.</HI> as <HI>Ro|ger Bacon</HI> and <HI>Gulielmus Pari&s;ien&s;is,</HI> and others, interpret him, that God is therefore, as <HI>intellectus agens,</HI> who illuminates our under&s;tanding by a &s;piritual light, as the Sun doth our &s;ight, in order to bodies; and &s;o actu|ates
<PB N="98" REF="54">it, in order to know|ledge of things, whereof it is capable: and there|fore he &s;aith, that <HI>intel|lectus agens</HI> is &s;eparated <HI>a po&s;&s;ibili,</HI> &s;ub&s;tantially; and that it knowes all things; and that it is al|wayes in act, &amp;c. which are proper to God, as they think: and indeed to make the under&s;tand|ing to be <HI>agens</HI> and <HI>po&s;|&s;ibilis,</HI> it is a riddle, be|ing it is to make it <HI>Agent</HI> and <HI>Patient</HI> to it &s;elf, al|though indivi&s;ible.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="99" REF="54">
<HEAD>CHAP. IX. <HI>The &s;tate of the Que&s;tion further explicated. The difference between an in|&s;tant of time and aevi|ternity declared. The re|&s;olution of the Que&s;tion fully given, as to change of &s;ouls.</HI></HEAD>
<P>IF you ask me, how a Soul, by the power of God can be chang'd, from a not knowing to a know|ing, in the &s;ame in&s;tant, without contradiction?</P>
<P>I an&s;wer fir&s;t, that our &s;ouls are indeed indivi&s;i|ble in their e&s;&s;ences; as
<PB N="100" REF="55">not having quantity; &amp; in the production of their acts, or operations, in &s;tate of &s;eparation; as being not done by moti|on: they are al&s;o indi|vi&s;ible in their durances; or the mea&s;ures of their durances are indivi&s;ible; that is, not by parts: with which is con&s;i&s;tent, that their mea&s;ures are not in&s;tantaneous, as ours are; but are capable, and di&s;|po&s;ed, upon Gods conti|nuated, and, as it were, connatural influence, as the beames in re&s;pect of the Sun, to include the whole pre&s;entiality of ae|ternity,
<PB N="101" REF="55">by rea&s;on that the length, or &s;hortne&s;&s;e of duration doth not at all change the mea&s;ure in it &s;elf; provided that it be altogether.</P>
<P>It is therefore a great di&s;proportion, rather a collu&s;ion, to argue from the con&s;ideration of an in&s;tant of our time to ae|viternity: they both a|gree in this, that they are indivi&s;ible; that is, they are not capable of &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ion of parts: but the rea&s;on of this in each is wholly different.</P>
<P>The in&s;tant of time is therfore &s;o, becau&s;e Phy|&s;ically
<PB N="102" REF="56">&s;peaking, it is no|thing el&s;e but a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">egation, or termination of &s;ome thing, and hath therefore no duration at all <HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">vum,</HI> or aeviternity, is not ca|pable of &s;ucce&s;&s;ion, as being, as the former is, indivi&s;ible, and altoge|ther, but yet hath infi|nite durance, according to the way expre&s;&s;ed, vertually including infi|nite in&s;tances, according to which it is conceivable to have mutation without contradiction; becau&s;e its durance or exi&s;tence now, though altogether, or not by parts, is not by
<PB N="103" REF="56">vertue of the &s;ame con|&s;ervation, or influx, it hath from God, as appli|ed before; but it hath, in a manner, a new depen|dancy of him, el&s;e both it, and its mea&s;ure would cea&s;e to be: this is both <HI>Scotus</HI> and S. <HI>Bonaven|tures</HI> &s;olid way of expli|cation of this ab&s;tru&s;e difficulty. And truly I believe St. <HI>Thomas</HI> and <HI>Henricus</HI> their <HI>tempus di&s;|cretum,</HI> well weighed, will fall into it. And ve|rily <HI>Aeviternity</HI> &s;eems in this to differ from <HI>aeter|nity,</HI> that it doth not nece&s;&s;arily involve an
<PB N="104" REF="57">impo&s;&s;ibility of cea&s;ing to be, or of requiring a continuated, or, as it were, a new dependance of the divine influence, without which it would cea&s;e: Whereas, what|&s;oever is e&s;&s;entially <HI>aeter|nal,</HI> is repugnant to any imaginable change; and therefore it can onely be a&s;&s;erted of God.</P>
<P>I could an&s;wer &s;econd|ly, that in the operations of Angels, or &s;ouls con|&s;idered as to the &s;imple notion of their aeviterni|ty, there may be &s;ucce&s;|&s;ion, or mutation, with|out contradiction (which
<PB N="105" REF="57"><HI>Scotus</HI> grants without re|&s;triction.) My rea&s;on is, becau&s;e the a&s;&s;ertion, or negation of any operati|on, is in re&s;pect of divers in&s;tances, or aeviternal mea&s;ures.</P>
<P>For example, the exi|&s;tance of a &s;oul is its own mea&s;ure, as not being di&s;tinct from it: the ope|rations have, or are, each theirs, as being indivi&s;i|ble, as well as the &s;oul. Hence, although the &s;oul, as to <HI>e&s;&s;ence</HI> and <HI>exi&s;tence,</HI> is immutable, as natural|ly its mea&s;ure is; and &s;o each operation is, whil&s;t it is, or its <HI>aevum</HI> is: yet
<PB N="106" REF="58">the &s;oul, as to operation, or under operation, may, without contradiction, admit &s;ome change, as lying under other <HI>aeviter|nities,</HI> or mea&s;ures, which accompany the <HI>Acts,</HI> as I have &s;aid. Whence fol|lows, that the &s;oul is not rightly &s;aid to be <HI>not knowing,</HI> and <HI>knowing,</HI> in the &s;ame, or in order to the &s;ame <HI>in&s;tant,</HI> or <HI>aevum;</HI> but it is <HI>not knowing,</HI> as mea&s;ured by the &s;oul's own <HI>aevum,</HI> and it is <HI>know|ing,</HI> con&s;idered as to the mea&s;ures of the <HI>Acts,</HI> which as I declared, mu&s;t be di&s;tinct from that of
<PB N="107" REF="58">the Soul: and hence it may have new <HI>Acts.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, I an&s;wer, that rightly putting with <HI>Sco|tus,</HI> that <HI>Aevum,</HI> or how you will call the mea&s;ure of Angelical, or <HI>Anima|&s;tick</HI> Natures, is not di|&s;tinct from the things mea&s;ured. You know in bodies the mea&s;ures are extrin&s;ecall as being from the motions of the bodies of the Heavens, but here is no &s;uch ex|trin&s;ecal <HI>Gnomon</HI> in re|&s;pect of &s;piritual &s;ub&s;tan|ces. We need not there|fore &s;eek, whether they may have &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of
<PB N="108" REF="59"><HI>Acts</HI> in one in&s;tant, to a|void contradiction, which &s;o much affrights us: but we onely are to look upon the nature of the <HI>Acts</HI> them&s;elves, whe|ther there is no implica|cy in them to co-exi&s;t with one another, or to &s;ucceed each other? Which &s;ure there is none imaginable. Neither do you alledge any here. It is not hard then to con|ceive, that a Soul hath many <HI>Acts;</HI> &s;ince al&s;o, as I &s;aid above, an <HI>aevum</HI> can co-exi&s;t to an infinity of <HI>in&s;tances;</HI> namely, as long as an Angel continues.</P>
<PB N="109" REF="59">
<P> I hope, out of all this I may &s;afely conclude, that a &s;eparated &s;oul may have <HI>mutation</HI> in its <HI>Acts,</HI> e&s;pecially as S. <HI>Thomas</HI> &s;peaks 2.2.9.58. a. 11. <HI>Quantum ad ea, quae eis divinitus revelantur, ni|hil prohibet, intellectus Angelorum e&s;&s;e in poten|tia.</HI></P>
<P>My &s;olution therefore is, that the Angels, or Souls, without contradi|ction, are capable of re|velations, or what&s;oever motions from God, that is, in any &s;upernatural way; in order whereun|to nothing hinders them
<PB N="110" REF="60">to be changeable, and this, as I &s;aid, is &s;ufficient for our principal a&s;&s;erti|on of the &s;ouls capacity of <HI>change,</HI> in <HI>Purgatory.</HI></P>
<P>To this may be ob|jected, that the <HI>&s;oul is a pure act,</HI> as admitting no compo&s;ition; and there|fore the <HI>acts</HI> are not dif|ferent from the e&s;&s;ence, and therefore not muta|ble.</P>
<P>It is as ea&s;ie replyed, that it is repugnant to the nature of a creature to be that, which Divines call <HI>a pure act,</HI> fir&s;t as ha|ving a <HI>potentiality</HI> to a not being, and having a
<PB N="111" REF="60">dependance upon <HI>compo|&s;ition;</HI> or having &s;ome actual <HI>compo&s;ition,</HI> or <HI>componibility.</HI> Al&s;o to have been produced out of nothing, carries with it a defect of that <HI>&s;impli|city,</HI> which is a <HI>pure act,</HI> as having nece&s;&s;arily a <HI>quo,</HI> and <HI>quod.</HI> And tru|ly in this very thing, an Angel (which is the no|ble&s;t of creatures) differs from God, that it is not its <HI>own act,</HI> and therefore in a <HI>potentiality</HI> to <HI>acts:</HI> which can not be &s;aid of any but God. This is as to the <HI>general.</HI></P>
<P>Be&s;ides, the con&s;ide|rations
<PB N="112" REF="61">of a &s;oul, render it far inferior, as being compounded Metaphy|&s;ically, which is real. Be|&s;ides, as cannot be deni|ed, it is ordinable to a <HI>Phy&s;ical compo&s;ition,</HI> as to be a part of the <HI>com|po&s;itum,</HI> or whole man: which excludes the being a pure <HI>act:</HI> for <HI>matter,</HI> and <HI>forme,</HI> are therefore not &s;imple enough, as to this (though otherwi&s;e <HI>&s;impliciter &s;implices,</HI> as <HI>Scotus</HI> &s;peaks) becau&s;e they are <HI>componible</HI> be|twixt them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Being advanced thus far, you will give me
<PB N="113" REF="61">leave to tell you, that I do not conceive it to be out of ignorance of the nature of a &s;oul (though it is thought &s;o) that all Divines grant this &s;ort of <HI>mutability;</HI> which is con|&s;onant to holy <HI>Scrip|tures, Councels, Fathers,</HI> all <HI>Schoolmen,</HI> and <HI>Chri|&s;tian rea&s;on,</HI> but it is ra|ther out of a <HI>non</HI> ad|vertence of the incon|&s;i&s;tency of holy Churches doctrine, confirmed by univer&s;al practice of re|lief of &s;ouls out of <HI>Purga|tory</HI> before the great day, that now the contrary is &s;o much pre&s;&s;ed by &s;ome,
<PB N="114" REF="62">as not con&s;idering their &s;ubjection to Gods pow|erful mercy.</P>
<P>A mode&s;t man would rather &s;ay with St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI> treating almo&s;t of this matter, for it is in his treati&s;e of the <HI>Divi|nation of Divels,</HI> cap. 6. <HI>Rem dixi occulti&s;&s;imam audaciore a&s;&s;everatione, quam debui:</HI> I have been more bold than wi&s;e to &s;peak confidently in the&s;e remote &s;ubjects. Let us therefore return to the &s;ouls proceeding in <HI>Purgatory.</HI> For as to the other objections (which ordinarily are al|ledged)
<PB N="115" REF="62">they have more <HI>Water,</HI> than <HI>Salt.</HI></P>
<P>In order indeed to in|crea&s;e of <HI>Charity,</HI> the &s;oul hath in <HI>Purgatory</HI> &s;ome <HI>di&s;po&s;ition,</HI> as be|ing already <HI>inve&s;ted</HI> with it; but by rea&s;on fir&s;t, that it is <HI>extra viam;</HI> by rea&s;on al&s;o of the <HI>dregs,</HI> which cau&s;e, and accom|pany its pre&s;ent conditi|on, it is not expeditely di&s;po&s;ed, but at length, according to Gods or|ders, by pre&s;enting force|ably &s;ome &s;upernatural object, or motive, or &s;ome other way, the ob|&s;tacles are removed, and
<PB N="116" REF="63">the &s;oul ea&s;ily intended to &s;uch a <HI>charity,</HI> rather <HI>charity</HI> to &s;uch a degree is intended in the &s;oul; which joynes it to glory; each by waies unknown, as being unnece&s;&s;ary to the Churches pre&s;ent condition, to know Gods waies in the &s;ouls relief; importing nothing to the advance of <HI>Piety;</HI> which as you will confe&s;s, is the <HI>border of revealed truths.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="117" REF="63">
<HEAD>CHAP. X. <HI>Scriptures, and Traditi|ons, mu&s;t be obeyed. How one can &s;atis&s;ie for another. Whether, and how, other vertues, be&s;ides Charity, avail towards Heaven.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THat learned per&s;ons u&s;e their abilities to declare the true &s;en&s;e of <HI>Church-cu&s;tomes,</HI> where there may be mi&s;takes, is the office of <HI>Chri&s;tian Divines,</HI> and highly wor|thy their endeavours: and the <HI>Councel of Trent</HI>
<PB N="118" REF="64">enjoynes Prelates to do it in this particular, as St. <HI>Thomas,</HI> St. <HI>Bonav. Sco|tus,</HI> and the re&s;t, do. But to call general, old cu|&s;tomes them&s;elves into que&s;tion, or to bend them to our &s;peculations, is, in St. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> e&s;teem (<HI>ep.</HI> 118.) the greate&s;t madne&s;s in the world. His words are, <HI>in&s;olenti&s;|&s;imae in&s;aniae e&s;t.</HI> His rea|&s;on is, becau&s;e, <HI>Quae uni|ver&s;a tenet eccle&s;ia, ab A|po&s;tolis praecepta, be|ne creduntur, quanquam &s;cripta non reperiantur;</HI> as he rightly teaches a|gain&s;t the <HI>Donati&s;ts, l.</HI>
<PB N="119" REF="64">5. <HI>c.</HI> 23. It is enough, if holy Church avoucheth any thing: yet you pre&s;s this &s;o far, as you &s;eem to cen&s;ure the publike &s;ence of all <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> of <HI>novelty.</HI></P>
<P>St. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and St. <HI>Hierome,</HI> when they hap|ned upon any Texts of Holy Scripture, which they found too hard for them (which was fre|quent) they imputed it to <HI>their</HI> want of <HI>rea&s;on;</HI> and not to the <HI>Scriptures</HI> want of <HI>Truth.</HI> Hence St. <HI>Hierome</HI> Q. 8. <HI>ad Alga&s;i|am,</HI> &s;peaking of St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Romans,</HI>
<PB N="120" REF="65">&s;aith: <HI>Totus hic Apo&s;toli locus, &amp; in &s;uperioribus, &amp; in con&s;equentibus; imo omnis Epi&s;tola ejus ad Romanos, nimiis ob|&s;curitatibus involuta e&s;t.</HI> The whole Epi&s;tle was above his reach, yet he dur&s;t not, in the lea&s;t, que&s;tion the <HI>truth,</HI> but confe&s;t his own <HI>weakne&s;s,</HI> and be&s;ides many other places, in his thirtieth <HI>ep.</HI> which is, to <HI>Oceanus</HI> &s;peaking of <HI>Fabiola,</HI> her pious de&s;ire to under|&s;tand &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages of holy Scripture in the book of <HI>Numbers,</HI> he tells her que&s;tions to him: To
<PB N="121" REF="65">which, he thus recounts his an&s;wer. <HI>In quibu&s;|dam hae&s;itavi, in aliis in|offen&s;o pede cucurri, in pleri&s;que ignorantiant confe&s;&s;us &s;um.</HI> He con|fe&s;&s;eth he was not able to &s;alve the propo&s;als, even of a woman, by rea&s;on of the intrica&s;ies in the holy Text, yet he &s;ubmits to all. And no le&s;s in holy <HI>Churches Traditions,</HI> or <HI>univer&s;al cu&s;tomes,</HI> as you have heard St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI> whereof this is one.</P>
<P>Mo&s;t <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> there|fore having not at their deaths (as is &s;uppo&s;ed)
<PB N="122" REF="66">&s;o <HI>inten&s;e</HI> a <HI>charity,</HI> as could perfectly ordinate their faults (as <HI>Martyrs</HI> and great <HI>Saints</HI> are ju|&s;tly believed to have) hence after this life (that every <HI>coinquination,</HI> as St. <HI>John</HI> &s;peaks, may be expurged) they are exer|ci&s;ed in a due <HI>&s;ati&s;pa&s;&s;i|on,</HI> in conformity to Gods orders, before entrance into Heaven. Which though <HI>formally</HI> can onely be performed by them&s;elves, yet <HI>aequi|valently</HI> by <HI>&s;atisfaction</HI> tendred by the <HI>Church Militant,</HI> and her chil|dren, it may be e&s;tima|ted
<PB N="123" REF="66"><HI>Theirs,</HI> as all Courts of Ju&s;tice, e&s;pecially where there is a commix|tion of <HI>Mercy,</HI> as in this ca&s;e, will admit. Al|though I know no <HI>Law,</HI> or expre&s;s <HI>in&s;titution</HI> of God for this, whereby it may be expected in rigor of ju&s;tice, or <HI>ex condigno,</HI> as we &s;peak, <HI>That one mans Act, &s;hall be ac|cepted for another, but onely by way of Petition, and impetration;</HI> which the children of holy <HI>Church</HI> u&s;e, e&s;pecially for the <HI>faithful departed.</HI></P>
<P>When therefore all Chri&s;tians, even from the
<PB N="124" REF="67">time, when charity it &s;elf in our ble&s;&s;ed Lord dwelt among&s;t us, did, and do, acknowledge <HI>Chri&s;tian Religion</HI> to be a <HI>poenitential,</HI> and <HI>humble Religion,</HI> as the Roman Per&s;ecutors exprobrated to our Primitive Mar|tyrs; they did not, nei|ther do we, prefer exter|nal Penances, and Humi|liations before <HI>Charity, the Queen of Vertues:</HI> which only among&s;t The|ological Vertues &s;tands the &s;hock of Eternity, and which qualifies, and en|hances our Acts, in order to it; in&s;omuch that al|though
<PB N="125" REF="67"><HI>Prayers, Fa&s;tings,</HI> or <HI>Alms-deeds,</HI> do avail, in order to Heaven, and for <HI>&s;atisfaction</HI> of &s;ins, as the <HI>Councel of Trent, Se&s;.</HI> 14. declares; yet it is re|qui&s;ite, that they be com|manded, or ordered by <HI>Charity;</HI> though the wi&s;e <HI>Councel</HI> doth not expre&s;|ly determine this. There|fore we all de&s;ire, accor|ding to the Laws of God, that <HI>Charity,</HI> which is <HI>free,</HI> according to the Apo&s;tle, may not be <HI>&s;traightned</HI> in its operations; but, as circum&s;tances invite, let it be imployed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> one, by curing &s;ouls; in ano|ther,
<PB N="126" REF="68">by curing bodies; in a third, by corporal Pennances; in a fourth, by &s;uffering <HI>for</HI> the dead, or <HI>in</HI> the dead, by &s;uffering for them&s;elves, in each, according as the Spirit of God directs. As in the <HI>Collations of the Fathers, Col.</HI> 14. <HI>C.</HI> 4. <HI>Ne&s;torius</HI> the <HI>Abbot,</HI> &s;peaking of his Religi|ous, &s;aith: Some choo|&s;ing the care of the &s;ick; &s;ome begging for people in mi&s;ery, or teaching the ignorant; or giving alms to the poor, &amp;c. were every one glorious in their &s;everall pieties:
<PB N="127" REF="68">&s;o that they were pieties, that is operations of <HI>Cha|rity.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XI. <HI>How corporal afflictions can &s;atisfie for &s;innes? Whether a probable O|pinion may be follow|ed?</HI></HEAD>
<P>IF we admit not this, we &s;hall with <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> his Ver&s;ion, content our &s;elves with his <GAP DESC="foreign"> that is, if wee will, for the future com|mit no more Theft, Adultery, or the like, there is no need of wear|ing
<PB N="128" REF="69">&s;ackcloth and a&s;hes, fa&s;ting, or any peniten|tial works, though flow|ing from Charity, to take away the dregs of &s;in, and &s;o appea&s;e God offended for them; a|gain&s;t all Scriptures, and &s;en&s;e of all Chri&s;tians: which is indeed <HI>Calvin's Libertini&s;m,</HI> never known before in the world, nor, as I pre&s;ume, by you in|tended: expre&s;ly al&s;o again&s;t the <HI>Councel. of Trent, Se&s;&s;.</HI> 13. <HI>&amp;</HI> 14. which I entreat you to peru&s;e; for it condemns with <HI>Anathema</HI> to &s;ay, that <HI>Fa&s;tings, Prayers,
<PB N="129" REF="69">and Alms, or other pious works through Chri&s;t, do not &s;atisfie for temporal puni&s;hment due for our &s;ins;</HI> that is, after the guilt of them is taken away by the Sacraments.</P>
<P>I do not &s;ay this, as if corporal au&s;terities, or indeed any thing el&s;e of ours were in their own natures proportionable &s;atisfactions in order to God, for our violations of his Laws; but as all &s;ins, even tho&s;e which are purely mental, or that have not proceeded fur|ther than the will, are truly, even in <HI>Ari&s;totle's</HI>
<PB N="130" REF="70">grounds, operations of the whole man; for, <HI>A|ctiones &s;unt &s;uppo&s;itorum.</HI> Thus far Rea&s;on will carry us, that even the Body &s;hould be <HI>in&s;tru|mental</HI> in aboli&s;hing tho&s;e guilts whereof it was <HI>partaker,</HI> and &s;ometimes a &s;hrewd <HI>Sugge&s;tor.</HI> Whereupon we know, the mo&s;t &s;peculative Di|vines, as <HI>Scotus</HI> his School, and <HI>Cajetan,</HI> with many others teach, that even <HI>the &s;en&s;itive,</HI> that is, <HI>the corporeal part of a man, hath a capacity of venial &s;in in it &s;elfe; and as of &s;in, &s;o of goodne&s;&s;e.</HI>
<PB N="131" REF="70">Whence they rationally teach, that a man, who doth not onely intend, but effectually giveth Alms, or the like, doth add a degree of good|ne&s;&s;e, and con&s;equent|ly may hope for a grea|ter reward, than if he had contained him&s;elfe within the bounds of his Will.</P>
<P>Whence will further follow, that <HI>corporal af|flictions,</HI> even in them|&s;elves, may properly &s;erve as <HI>emanations</HI> from a &s;oule afflicted for &s;in, or as <HI>exerci&s;es,</HI> of which the body is only capable,
<PB N="132" REF="71">flowing from the love of God, as &s;urely they are, in a true <HI>contrite &s;pirit.</HI></P>
<P>And in this kinde in holy Writ, they are by true Penitents &s;ometimes voluntarily undertaken, other times by Gods or|ders inflicted, and accep|ted, in order to remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins; and this not al|wayes miraculous, as the Texts of holy Scriptures &s;hew. If it were mira|culous (as &s;ometimes it is, and you have well pondered,) it is &s;o far from enervating, that it demon&s;tratively confirms
<PB N="133" REF="71">Gods acceptance of the Churches Doctrine and practice, as to <HI>corporal afflictions,</HI> to the end a&s;|&s;igned: as is al&s;o clearly &s;hewed in the place quo|ted of the <HI>Councel of Trent:</HI> as al&s;o <HI>Se&s;&s;.</HI> 6. <HI>c.</HI> 14.</P>
<P>And hence holy <HI>Church</HI> by Gods orders injoyns <HI>Sacramental pennances</HI> (the&s;e I know you do not reject) which are de|letory of the dregs of &s;in, that is, they may exerci&s;e the &s;oule in <HI>intending</HI> Charity infu&s;ed by God upon &s;orrow, and the efficacy of the Sacra|ment.
<PB N="134" REF="72">By which means is often wrought an ab|&s;olute extinction of &s;in, that is, even of tho&s;e <HI>veleities,</HI> which frequent|ly trouble us after the height of our former mortal malice, by help of the Sacraments (deri|ved from our ble&s;&s;ed Saviours Pa&s;&s;ion) was extingui&s;hed and pardo|ned.</P>
<P>As concerning &s;ome &s;eeming excre&s;cencies, which you, and &s;ome o|thers carped at, and the like Sir <HI>Thomas More</HI> al&s;o je&s;ted at, I believe no judicious Catholique wil
<PB N="135" REF="72">pretend, that they have &s;trict acquaintance with Church Orders, but are onely a &s;ort of <HI>begottery,</HI> into which, Devotion, not well regulated, ea&s;i|ly degenerates. But you mu&s;t not, under this pre|tence, laugh at all infe|riour &s;orts of <HI>Piety</HI> and <HI>Devotion,</HI> which are to be proportioned to each capacity.</P>
<P>I conclude as to this with St. <HI>Augu&s;tine, l.</HI> 12. <HI>de Civit. c.</HI> 15. treating of Angels: <HI>Vereor ne fa|cilius judicer affirmare quod ne&s;cio, quam docere, quod &s;cio.</HI> I had rather be
<PB N="136" REF="73">not knowing, with &s;ub|mi&s;&s;ion to holy Churches orders, than &s;well in a vain opinion of my know|ledge, in prejudice of the lea&s;t of them. And this mu&s;t be, except we would hear from the &s;pi|rit of God, <HI>ivi&s;tis in adin|ventionibus ve&s;tris:</HI> ye have left me, and wal|ked in your own inventi|ons. Chri&s;tian Religion doth not receiv e&s;trength, by the weakne&s;&s;e of our rea&s;on, but our rea&s;on is elevated by the &s;trength of Chri&s;tian Religion. And therefore how ap|parent &s;oever it is, it
<PB N="137" REF="73">mu&s;t vail bonet, if a con|te&s;t be interjected.</P>
<P>And therefore Ma&s;ter <HI>White</HI> in his <HI>Controver|&s;ie-Logick,</HI> and his four|teenth reflection teach|eth thus, con&s;onant to <HI>Vincentius Lirinen&s;is,</HI> &s;peaking of <HI>Origen</HI> and <HI>Apollinarius</HI> their fai|lings, and falls: <HI>How mean &amp; pittiful a change it is, to fall from the &s;plendid authority of the whole Church, to the ob|&s;cure authority of a pri|vate Doctor be he what he will.</HI> Surely it de&s;erves an Aegyptian Pyramid to perpetuate it again&s;t
<PB N="138" REF="74">all innovations, and par|ticularly, again&s;t this which we have rejected.</P>
<P>Yet there are a &s;ort of <HI>Opiniators,</HI> as <HI>Cicero</HI> calls them, who fancy each &s;trong fancy of theirs, to be <HI>demon&s;trations:</HI> to which all, who will not incurre the note of igno|rance, mu&s;t &s;ub&s;cribe, as well in <HI>Morals,</HI> as in que&s;tions, touching faith.</P>
<P>Whereas St. <HI>Augu&s;tine, l.</HI> 1. <HI>Retract. c.</HI> 21. di&s;|puting learnedly, and largely of the &s;ence of our Lords words to Saint <HI>Peter, &s;uper hanc Petram, &amp;c.</HI> con|cludes
<PB N="139" REF="74">thus: <HI>Harum du|arum &s;ententiarum, quae&s;it probabilis, eligat lector.</HI> Antiquity then did not di&s;alow probable opini|ons: nor pre&s;ently fan|cy their own conceits to be <HI>demon&s;trations;</HI> much le&s;&s;e forbid others to fol|low &s;uch, which they judged <HI>probable.</HI> Which is now too much cryed down, and truly as to Morals, I conceive I have demon&s;trated in my <HI>En|chyridion Dial.</HI> that pro|bability is enough.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="140" REF="75">
<HEAD>CHAP. XII. <HI>The de&s;igne of this Trea|ti&s;e.</HI></HEAD>
<P>WHereas you &s;ay, I dare not a&s;&s;ert the contrary opinion of the <HI>&s;ouls</HI> continuing in <HI>Pur|gatory,</HI> till the day of judgement to be <HI>Here&s;ie.</HI></P>
<P>It is ea&s;ily replyed, fir&s;t with <HI>Bellarmine,</HI> that to pre&s;cribe any term to particular per&s;ons, and much more to the gene|ral, that is, to determine months, or yeares, <HI>non ni&s;i temer&egrave; definiri pote&s;t,</HI>
<PB N="141" REF="75">it is a great temerity; becau&s;e, as he &s;aith &s;o|lidly, it is <HI>resincerti&s;&s;ima:</HI> there is nothing more uncertain in all Chri&s;tian principles. For indeed here is neither <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> nor <HI>revelation</HI> to conduct us. He &s;poke upon occa&s;ion of <HI>Scotus</HI> his opinion, who thought, according to the mea&s;ures he made of Gods <HI>mercies,</HI> that none would &s;tay in Purgatory above ten years. Which weak ground brought <HI>O|rigen</HI> into his error, of promi&s;ing a period to the pains of Hell. Thus great wits, &s;till produce by
<PB N="142" REF="76">&s;trength of fancy, new grounds, and thence of|ten new errors into the Church; but to a&s;&s;ert a detayning all <HI>&s;oules</HI> in <HI>Purgatory</HI> till <HI>doome&s;|day,</HI> notwith&s;tanding the Churches <HI>Suffrages, Alms,</HI> and <HI>pious helps,</HI> is, for ought I can &s;ee, a <HI>novel|ty;</HI> and if &s;o, it is ea&s;ily proved to be a fal&s;ehood: for among&s;t the ancient, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, were almo&s;t equal crimes, as accompanying each o|ther.</P>
<P>To what you demand further, it is ea&s;ily rejoy|ned from our ble&s;&s;ed Sa|viours
<PB N="143" REF="76">example: <HI>Quis con&s;tituit me Judicem?</HI> I am no Judge of Con|trover&s;ies. That is re|ferr'd to S. <HI>Peters chair.</HI> Therefore I dare not indeed pre&s;umptuou&s;ly cen&s;ure other Catholike Doctors opinions, who&s;e per&s;ons, and learning I ju&s;tly reverence. Keep|ing my &s;elf therefore within the bounds of the Schooles, my de&s;ign is onely to vindicate the <HI>Churches Doctrine,</HI> and <HI>con&s;tant practi&s;e</HI> (as I am able to under|&s;tand it) from <HI>ignorance,</HI> and <HI>Novelty.</HI> In this
<PB N="144" REF="77">none can ju&s;tly blame me. Neither ought any to conceive them&s;elves to be particularly con|cerned in it; the rather, becau&s;e I do not believe (when they &s;peak clear|ly of their long <HI>Purga|tory</HI>) that they intend any further, than in order to <HI>natural cau&s;es:</HI> in re|&s;pect of which, as the Souls are not capable to be changed, as you lear|nedly, and truly teach, after, and with Mr. <HI>White;</HI> &s;o by force of &s;uch, or by order of <HI>Nature,</HI> they cannot change their po&s;ture from
<PB N="145" REF="77"><HI>Purgatory</HI> to Heaven: which is a great truth.</P>
<P>If any will go further, I &s;ay with St, <HI>Paul: Non &s;ic didici Chri&s;tum:</HI> I mu&s;t leave them: yet with St. <HI>Hieroms</HI> Provi&s;o, in his <HI>Dialogue</HI> again&s;t <HI>Pelagius, l.</HI> 3. <HI>In dogmatibus di&s;&s;e|rendis, non per&s;ona, &s;ed cau&s;a quaerenda e&s;t.</HI> I touch no mans per&s;on.</P>
<P><HI>Scotus</HI> teacheth his fol|lowers, (treating St. <HI>Cy|prians</HI> ca&s;e) to be mode&s;t in their <HI>tenets,</HI> conceiving there may be venial &s;in, in being too forward, or heady, even before Cano|nical declarations, or de|terminations:
<PB N="146" REF="78">and St. <HI>Hie|rome, Apol. l.</HI> 2. &s;aith: <HI>Si quae&s;tiones de animae&s;ta|tu in &V;rbe commotae &s;unt, quae e&s;t i&s;ta qucrimonia vel querela, quae utr&ugrave;m re|cipi debeat, Epi&s;coporum judicio derelinquitur?</HI> This mu&s;t be decided by <HI>Bi&s;hops:</HI> chiefly by the <HI>Bi&s;hop</HI> of <HI>Rome:</HI> as he teacheth again&s;t <HI>Ruffinus</HI> in the &s;ame <HI>Apology;</HI> and in his 67 <HI>Epi&s;tle</HI> to <HI>Theo|philus</HI> he &s;aith notably: <HI>Scito nihil nobis e&s;&s;e anti|quius, qu&agrave;m Chri&s;ti jura &s;ervare, nec patrum tran&s;|ferre terminos, &s;emperque memini&s;&s;e Romanam fi|dem,
<PB N="147" REF="78">Apo&s;tolico ore lauda|tam; cujus &s;e e&s;&s;e partici|pem Alexandrina Eccle|&s;ia gloriatur:</HI> We mu&s;t all glory to &s;ubmit to the deci&s;ions of <HI>Rome,</HI> when Patriarckes them&s;elves are taught to do it. Ac|cording therefore to our friends de&s;ire, I onely let him know, for prevention of mi&s;takes, what I have learned in <HI>Scotus,</HI> and St. <HI>Thomas</HI> their Schooles; and what was the &s;ub|&s;tance of our amicable Collation; in nothing (as I hope) violating the lawes of true Chri&s;tian <HI>friend|&s;hip;</HI> which I hold &s;acred,
<PB N="148" REF="79">as being con&s;i&s;tent with that well mea&s;ured Gra|dation: <HI>Amicus Plato, a|micus Ari&s;toteles, magis amica VERITAS.</HI> Which method, as you know, was religiou&s;ly ob&s;erved by learned Sir <HI>Thomas More,</HI> in his &s;harp con|gre&s;&s;es with <HI>Tindal,</HI> when he objected his great friend <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> his ver&s;ion (reduplicating in vain the notion of a <HI>friend</HI>) again&s;t the &s;en&s;e of Holy Church.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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