CAP. I. A description of the foure Chambers or stages which the Church of Rome placeth vnder the earth: and particularly of the place called Purgatory.

THE Doctors of the Church of Rome doe hold, that vnder the earth, there bee 4. severall places, which are so ma­ny prisons, wherein the foules are ei­ther broyled, or shutt vp.The lowest place. The auctor of the fire of Helie. p. 44. The lowest place is hell; the habitation of the dam­ned: and the same is divided (if wee be­leeue our adversaries) into two parts. [Page 2] The one where the soules are tormented in fire: the other, where they are tormented in snowe. Throughout al [...] the word of God can we not find that that ever any came out of this place▪ Yet Pope Gregory the first, in the first Booke of his Dialogues, cap. 12. repor­teth that S. Severus raised a dead bodie whome the Divels had carried away, Also Damascen, In 4 Dist. 45 quest. 2. and after him Thomas, Durand, and Richard, doe tell vs that by the prayers of S. Gregory Traian an hea­then Emperour was fetched out of hell Gabriel Biel in his 56. Lesson vpon the Cannon of the Masse, holdeth the same opinion▪ And Ciacconus hath written an Apologie expresly for this hi­story. Cayer and the Doctors that sub­scribed to his book, do approue this historie:The secōd place. but his cōpanions do reiect it. The second place is the Purgatory that serveth for such as are indeed righteous and do not sinne: but in their life time haue committed some trespasses for which they haue not satisfied. The same [Page 3] [...]ope Gregory teacheth that so soone as [...] man is deceased his soule is presented before the Iudge,Lib. 4. c. 36. also that sōtime there happeneth abuse, & they bring before God one that was not called. As (saith he) it chanced to one named Stephen, who being deceased and his soule pre­sented before God, immediatly as God saw him, hee said that was not the man that hee had called for: but that it was [...]n other Stephen, a beater of Iron, who therevpon died incontinentlie, and the former Stephen revived againe and was sent backe because hee dyed before he was called. These soules thus presented before the Iudge, if they need any pur­ging are instantly sent to this second place which they tearme Purgatory. And this doctrine is grounded vpon this principle, which is a third article of their faith, and taken out of the vnwrit­ten word:Read the catechisme of the coū ­cel of Trens in the ch [...] of pennāce namely that Jesus Christ by his death and passion hath indeede dis­chardged vs from the fault, and from the paines due to sinnes committed be­fore [Page 4] baptisme: but from the paine du [...] to sinnes committed after baptisme he hath not discharged vs. Therefore that such as haue not made full satisfaction in this life by fastings, scourgings, gifts to the Church, &c: shal be sent to Pur­gatory there to finish their satisfaction and to pay [as they say] even to the last penny.

Herehence grewe that pennance which the Priest imposeth vpon the sinner, which do farre differ from the pen­nance vsed in the primitiue Church which was publicke, of long continu­ance and rigorous, thereby to humble the sinner and to repaire the scandall to the Congregation: but at this day in the Church of Rome they impose for the most part privat pennances, and the same either very easie or ridiculous: & these doe they make vse of to prevent Purgatory, and yet to pay and satisfy Gods iustice. The formes of these pen­nances, are to say a set number of Anees intermixed with Paters vpon a paire of [Page 5] beads: to scourge their bodies: or vpon t [...]e bare flesh to gird themselues with a [...]cord: or to goe in pilgrimage to Saint [...]mes in Galicia, N. Giles, an. 768. &c. Our Annals do in­forme vs of a pennance imposed by a [...]ope vpon one Robert the Norman, surnamed the Divell, vpon sundry his [...]ots committed: that is, that for the space of seven yeares hee should not [...]eake: and that he should all that time, [...] at a staier foote, and take no other food but the relicks of such bones as a Grayhound should haue gnawn. Was i [...] meet to abridge the benefit of Iesus Christ, and to supply the places with such frivolous devises, and in such coū ­terfeit quoine to satisfie the iustice of God, which Iesus Christ had before sa­tisfied to the full?The Frier pag 75. As concerning the torments that the soules doe there en­dure, these our masters doe tell vs that all the fires and torments in this life, are [...]ut easie in regard of the heate of the [...]te of Purgatorie, and that the tormēt [...]hereof equalleth that of the damned. [Page 6] This doctrine was not yet receaued in the Church of Rome, when to the Cā nō of the Masse they added these words ensuing, which the Priest must daily say for the soules in Purgatory.Memento Domine. Remember Lord thy servants, whose soules doe rest in the sleepe of peace. Hereby it appeareth that they then beleeved that the paine was easie, or rather none at all, and that the soules for whom they prayed, did rest in peace as in a sleepe. Hereto ac­cordeth the saying of the aforenamed Gregory, who advoweth that the soules of S. Severus & S. Pascasius wrought miracles in the Bathes where they lay in Purgatory.Lib. 7. Epist. 61. For it is hard to worke any great miracles in such cruell torments. This is the same Pope Gregory, who doth in earnest confesse, that the Apo­stles celebrating the Lords supper, ad­ded vnto the consecration nothing but the Lords prayer, and so consequently prayed not for any soules in Purgatory.

Againe, the Church of Rome hol­deth this torment to be of long conti­nuance: [Page 7] for every sinne they must abide there seaven years: besides also that we pray for some that died many hundred yeares since. And in this regard doth the Pope grant pardons some for fifty, some for an hundred thousand yeares: and the Frier may verie well remember that when I shewed him in the Masse booke a praier that contained foure & fiftie thousand yeares of pardon there­to adioined, he did not onlie advow it, but tooke vpon him to defend these so [...]iberal indulgences.

In the Church of S. Bibian at Rome vpon the day of all Saintes they haue sixe hundred thousand yeares of verie pardon for the space of one whole day.In the booke of Romane Indulgen­ces these sixe hun­dred thou­sand years are writtē at large. The Pope that granted that pardon pre [...]upposing that a soule may haue com­mitted so many sinnes [besids those for which the paines of Jesus Christ haue [...]atisfied] that hee must haue so manie [...]eares of torment to purge all his sins, [...]nlesse the Masses and suffrages of the [...]ving, togither with the Popes indul­gences [Page 8] doe procure him ease and ab­breviation of his paines. At Paris in the entering into a chappel of the friers Fevillans in the suburbs of S. Honorat han­geth to be seene a long bedrole of par­dons: wherein among other is contai­ned that vpon everie daie of lent there are to bee purchased three thousande eight hundred sixtie seaven yeares and two hundred and seaven Quarentines of daies of verie pardon. In the church of S. Eusebius at Rome they haue seaven thousand, foure hundred fifty and foure Quarenteins of daies of verie pardon for such as shall bring thither any ho­nest offering, and as the words of the Bul do run Manus porrigentibus adiutri­ces for such as shall put to their helping hands. In the Church of S. Mary deli­ver vs from the paines of hell [for that is the Churches name] there are dailie granted eleven thousand yeares of In­dulgēce to such as shal bring an honest offering, that is to say, that shal giue, not to the poore indeed, but to the rich [Page 9] Moncks: not to those that weep, but to those that sing: for now almes with the true vse thereof hath also altred the signification of the word. In the church of S. Praxede you haue dailie twelue thousand yeares of verie pardon and as manie Quarentines of daies, with the remission of the third part of your sins: in such māner that visiting this church three daies on a row you shal purchase plenarie pardon of all your sins and six and thirtie thousand years by provision besides the Quarentines, which the Popes haue since encreased to sixscore thousand years for everie daie: witnes the book of Indulgences printed at Rome in the house of Iulius Accolto, an. 1570. see also the book of Romaine Indulgences sundrie times printed at Rome, namely in the yeare 1519 the second of Febru­arie by Marcell Franck. Yet are all these pardons but few in regard of those that belong to the Church of S. Iohn of La­teran, Gab. Biel in his 17. lesson vpō the Cannō of the Masse. the somme whereof yee shal find either hanging vpon tables, or graven [Page 10] in the wals of divers churches of Rome. All this do we set downe to shew that as the plaister ought to be fitted to the largenes of the wound, so the Popes haue thought it meet to perswade men to beleeue that the paines of Purgato­rie are of long continuance, sith they require so long a time to purchase release from the paines thereof: withal presup­posing that in that so fiery and scortch­ing a countrey, where the sun hath no being, they reckon all by daies, and by yeares. This long continuance is also to bee gathered out of the Revelation of Venerable Bede in the fifth booke of his historie cap. 13. That is to say about some nine hundred years since where he saith that the souls which in his time were in Purgatorie should be delivered in the daie of Iudgement, except some few that shoulde bee redeemed from thence by the praiers of the living.

Moreover besides all this, the selfe doctors of the Romish Church doe a­gree, that even during these so violent torments, the soules neverthelesse are [Page 11] assured of their salvation, & out of the danger of hell: neither do I know since when this opiniō crept into the church of Rome: for in the Masse for the dead we finde a clause after the Gospell that contrarywise doth testifie that still they are in danger. These be the words.Libera Do­mine ani­mas omniū fidelium de­functorum de poenis In­fernis, & de profundo la­cu: libera eos de ore Leonis ne absorbeat e­os Tartarus. O Lord deliver the soules of all the faithfull departed, from the infernall paines, & from the deepe lake: deliver them from the throat of the lyō, least the gulph of hell should swal­low thē vp, & so they fall into vtter dark­nes. Tearms over bitter to signifie Purgatory: and such as may in no case stand with people assured of their salvation. We haue also the ordinary prayers said [...]t burials, yea and vsed at the funerall of [...] Pope, wherein we find no mention of Purgatory. Indeed this soule is brought [...]n, as praying to be delivered from hel, and from eternall iudgement, in these words. Saue me o Lord from eternall death [...]n the terrible day, when the heauens and [...]he earth shall bee moved, Sacrar. Ce­rem. lib. 1. Sect 15. and when thou halt come to iudge the world by fire. I trē ­ble [Page 12] and quake, and doe feare when the exa­mination shall come, and the day of wrath, of calamitie and of misery: that great and wōderfull better day. Speeches which cā not proceed from a soul assured of her salvatiō. Surely whē these praiers were first penned, these matters were not yet well considered of, and this may we ea­sily gather from Pope Gregory the first, who in his dialogues placeth the Pur­gatory of some souls in bathes, of some vnder the leaues, and of some vnder the Ice: and this do these three champions that haue assaulted my treatise, both say and defend: for nothing to them is to hard or to hot. Damian speaketh of a soule that had her Purgatory in a river, but whither she swam with the stream or against it, he saith not. The Rosarie of Bernardine hath of this nature ma­ny revelations: and the Legend of S. Pa­tricke telleth vs that in Ireland there is a caue that openneth into Purgatory: to be briefe, albeit many soules are retur­ned from those partes, which haue [Page 13] brought news, yet did the matter still rest full of doubt, vntil the Councell of Florence, which among other occasions was assembled to perswade Purgato­ry to the Greeke Churches, who both before and yet do deny it, albeit their deputies in the Councell did agree vn­to it in hope of succours against the Turk. True it is that we find some more ancient Councels, which made menti­on of prayer for the dead: but hereafter we shall most evidētly proue that these prayers make nothing for Purgatory: also that such prayers as we find among the ancients doe plainely shewe that they beleeved no Purgatory. Even to this day doe the Greek Churches pray for the dead: yet doe they deny Purga­torie. In the last session therefore of this Councell holden in the yeare 1539. was it defined, that wee should beleeue Purgatory: In which Counsell, as in all others holden within these fiue hun­dred yeares, the Pope sat president, and that with such auctority that hee grew [Page 14] to bee adored and intituled The Divine Maiestie: the spouse of the Church: the Sa­viour and Lion of Iuda: the king & Prince of all the world, having all power both in heaven and in earth: All which titles were attributed to Pope Leo the 10. in the Councell of Lateran. Thus in all these Councels nothing passed but by his will,Sess. 1. & 3. & 9. &. 10. in such wise, that if any did con­tradict him, hee was soone burned, as was Iohn Husse in the Councell of Con­stance, notwithstanding the safe cōduct and faith given by the Emperour and al the Councell. But to returne to our Matter. The soules thus purged in this fire are brought into Paradice. How­beit because this purgation will growe somewhat long, the Popes mercy doth sometimes abridge this punishment: For besides that the paines that the li­ving haue vndergon for thē, as fastes: almes: whippings, pilgrimages, libera­lities to the Church, &c. also that the Masses foūded for the deceased, which leaue any rents or annuities to a con­vent [Page 15] or abbey, or other religious house [if we may beleeue those that sing thē] are of great vse to mitigate and allay the heat of Purgatory, and to diminish the paines thereof, yet haue the Popes found out a more ready and gallant in­vention to the same end: and this it is. Hee raketh together all the superabun­dant satisfactions as wel of Iesus Christ as of all his Saints which remain in the treasurie of the Church, whereof him­selfe doth carrie the keyes: and these doth he distribute among his Indulgen­ces, for the freeing of soules out of the fire of Purgatorie. To the same vse doth he also apply his hallowed graines and medals which hee distributeth abroad, granting hundreds and thousandes of yeares of pardon, to all such as shal kisse or reverently keepe them. And these pardons serue not only for this life but also for Purgatory. The Church of the Fevillants at Paris haue this priviledge, That the Masses in that church said for the dead vpon the moonday or wed­nesday, [Page 16] doe every of them deliver one soule out of Purgatorie. Many such Churches doth Rome containe. S. Po­tentian: S. Laurence without the walls, S. Praxede, &c. vpon the 7. of May, anno 1586. did Pope Sixtus the 5. grant to such of the fraternitie of the corde of S. Frances as should say 5 Paternosters & as many Ave Marias vpon the Satur­day before palme Sunday: and vpō the feast daies of S^t Iohn Evangelist and S^t Iohn Port Latyn plenary Indulgence for all their sinnes: yea and more then then that: for they shall moreover de­liver one soule out of Purgatorie, as appeareth in the booke of In­dulgences granted to that reverend Corde, printed at Paris by Iohn le Bouc vpō Mount S. Hillary at the signe of diligence ann. 1597. And these privi­ledges were reconfirmed by other let­ters pattents of the same Pope: Given at S. Markes the 9. of August. ann. 1587. But the principall matter that we are herein to note is this. That this grace is [Page 17] not conferred to any that is not of that fraternity, albeit in the same places hee should say the 5. Paters and as many A­vees, yea and fifty more and that with farre greater devotion then that frater­nity doth. Some Alters also there be whereto his holinesse hath conferred such priviledges that vpon the saying of a set number of Masses vpō them,At Rome in the church of S. Prax­e de and in many other places. they shall bring a soule out of Purgatorie: Some people also there bee that are so priviledged that after their deaths ei­ther they go not into Purgatory at all, or if they go in, they staie not there any time, but come forth by and by: albeit they be as heavy loaden with sin as any other: such shall the elect bee that shall liue in the day of Iudgement, or such as shall die immediatlie after the Iubile. Sub auspiciis sapientissimi D.N. Bartholomei Gui­tart Navar­rici. Wee haue seene certaine Theologicall Theses disputed on at the Carmelites in Paris vpon the eighth of October 1601 by a certaine Carmelite named Iacobus de Rampont Carmelitarum presentatus ac Metensis Carmeli Alumnus: at the end [Page 18] whereof the said Rampont in good sort and with a good grace maketh a briefe Oration in commendatiō of his order: tearming the Carmelites the first Ana­chorites: the Imitators of the Aposto­licke life, practising both the life & wea­ring the habit of Elyas and Elizeus, bre­thren ro the Virgin Mary: and among al other preeminences endued with this singuler priviledge, That whosoever is entred or shall vowe to enter into this fraternitie shall no longer abide in Pur­gatorie, but from his death vntill the next Saturday following. A priviledge which Cayer with tooth and naile de­fendeth in his Oven of Reverberate, &c. and promiseth shortly to show vs the Bull of that Pope which graunted this priviledge, with whom the Carmelites are vnited who thereto haue set their seales, and among the rest this frier Rā ­pont. And this is the reason that they vse so few Masses for the soules of their brethren, especially if they die vpon the Friday. The Pope himselfe sometimes [Page 19] granteth his Buls, as our selfe haue seen whereby at the petition of some survi­ver of the kindred that craveth it, hee fetcheth the soule out of this fier. Yet for the expedition of such Buls, as also of all other Buls of Absolution or dis­pensation the Penitentiaries,That is to say Notaries dataries & brethren of the lead, &c. Who farme their offices at the Popes hand, must be greased in the fists: and these our Ma­sters must be paid in duckats of the chā ­ber, as in the pallace of Paris the spices are paid only in crownes of the sunne. Thus doe they wrong in subscribing their Buls Datum Romae for if they wold deale truly they should write Venditum Romae. Hereof did Aeneas Silvius com­plaine before he was Pope saying,Epist. 66. ad 1. Peregallū. Ni­hil est quod abs (que) argento Rom. curia dedat [...] nam & ipsae manuū impositiones, & Spi­ritus sancti dona venduntur: nec peccato­rum venia nisi nummatis venditur. That is to saie in few words: In the Court of Rome nothing passeth without mony, no not the holy Ghost, or remission of sinnes.

[Page 20] Thus is he named in the frōt of the booke of the con­formitie of S. FrancesThis might suffise for this argumēt, were it not that I am willing to gratifie our Portugall frier in regarde of our friendship. Whose patron the Typicall Jesus, namely S. Frances (in their booke of conformities, compared with Jesus) hath greatly contributed to the redee­ming of souls out of Purgatory. For the Rosary of Barnardin, Thomas 2. quaest. vlt. Artic. Eandē grati. am consequū tur Religio­nem intran­tes, quam cō ­sequuntur Baptizati. Anton. tit. 24 cap. 7 & Rosarium Bernardini. Assisium, a towne in the Dutchy of Spoletū wherein dwelt the first Fran­ciscan Fri­ers. also Thomas vpon the fourth booke of Sentences doth testifie that the taking of S. Fran­ces habit is of like vertue as Baptisme▪ hereof it must needs ensue that whoso­ever dieth in this habit doth go straight into Paradice. And in hope hereof there haue bin some who in the verie agonie of death haue cauled themselus to be shrowded in this habit. Or haue at the least thrust an arme into the sleeue thereof. Among others Robert King of Sicill, as Anthoninus reporteth. To this Reverend Saint, being at his towne of Assisium in Italyan^o, 1223 ap­peared an Angell who told him that Iesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the [Page 21] [...]ngels attended him in the Church [...]alled S^t Mary of the Angels: wherevpō [...]e being come thether, Iesus Christ [...]aid vnto him, Frances, Luk. 2 22. demand any thing concerning the salvation of soules: for thou art set to be a light to the Gentiles. Frances answered, I require thee to grant pardon for all sinnes to every one that shall enter into this Church, and I beseech the Virgin Mary, the advocate of mankind, to assist me in this petition. Then said Iesus vnto him, Brother Frances, thou hast desired a great matter: but thou art worthy of grea­ter: Goe therefore to my Vicar, to whome I haue given power to bind and lose vpon earth and in heaven, and on my behalfe de­mand of him this Indulgence: Herevpon this good Saint repaired to Pope Hono­rat, & at his hands craved this large In­dulgence without offerings. But the Pope answered him that it might not bee:Note this principle. for it was meete that whosoever would purchase pardons, must also me­rit them Ponendo manus adiutrices by putting to his helping hand, id est, by cō tributing. [Page 22] Being asked for howe many yeares he demanded this pardon, hee answered that he craved no yeares but soules: and therevpon would none of his buls: but said that the Virgin should be his paper, Iesus Christ his Notary, and the Angels his witnesses. But now is this Indulgence restrained to one day of the yeare only, and that is the first of August:It is called Portiun­cula or S. Mary of the Angels vpon which day, whosoever visiteth the said Church, obtaineth re­mission of all his sinnes cōmitted since his baptisme: as well for the sinne as for the punishment: wherof it ensueth that whosoever dieth comming from thēce shall never come in Purgatory. This In­dulgence is yet in great esteeme in Ita­ly, and is set downe in Bernardines Rosa­ry, and Bellarmine defendeth it in his se­cond booke of Indulgences. Thus doe we with griefe behold the accomplish­ment of the prophecie of S. Paule. 2. Thes. [...].11 God shall send them strong delusions, that they shall beleeue lies, and that for a punish­ment, because they haue accompted [Page 23] Godlinesse to be a gain: religion a marchandize for the time: and Gods word a dangerous booke: such a one as the common people may not looke into, so long as such vngodly and impious [...]nventions are published, as most con­venient for the instruction of the vn­ [...]earned.

This is the history of Purgatory: [...]hese are her tenents and butteresses: and herein were matter sufficient to make men merry: had they not a grea­ [...]er ground of sorrow in seeing religiō [...]urned into fables, and the only clean­ [...]ng of our sinnes, which is the bloud of [...]esus Christ, be as it were degraded and [...]based, to the ende to make a gaine to [...]hose who in the Temple haue againe [...]aised vp the tables of the mony chan­ [...]ers; which Iesus Christ did once over­ [...]hrowe and cast downe.

CAP. 2. That the holy scripture is a sufficient iudge for this question, as also for all other cō ­troversies concerning faith: and that therein is no mention of Purgatory, or of any Indulgence whereby to release soules out of the torment thereof.

to a iudge that beareth them so smal fa­vour, they many times giue it some gird. Thus saith the Auctor of the fire of Helie. Pag. 61. Albeit there bee no mention of Purgatory in the Scripture, yet cannot Du Moulins conclusion bee but bad, in saying there is no Purgatory. And here he raketh togither a number of things, which (saith he) are not in the holy Scripture. Yea so presumptuous is our Francis­cans ignorance, as to say that through­out the old Testament there is not one expresse word of the immortalitie of the soule.Pag. 16. In this regard it is requisite that before we proceed any farther we trie these Doctors in this case to the quicke, and defend the perfection of the holy Scripture. Amid the corrupti­ons of the world, wee haue yet this ho­nor, that we be the advocates of Gods cause, and of the worthinesse of his word. Which as S. Paul, 2. Tim. 3. saith, is able to instruct vs and to make vs wise to salvatiō: Initio lib. 2. adversus Gentes. which also (saith Athanasius) abundantly suffiseth to instruct vs in all [Page 38] [...] [Page 41] [...] [Page 38] [...] [Page 41] [...] [Page 42] truth. Wherein, as saith Chrysostome vpon the second Chapter of the 2. to the Thessalonians, is cleerly cōtained al that is necessary. For was it possible that aforetime the fiue books of Moses were sufficient to instruct the Church to salvation, & that now the same fiue bookes, together with the Prophets, E­vangelists and Apostles cannot suffice? hath God forbiddē to adde or diminish to the bookes of Moses, Deut. 4.1. and nowe that both in the old and new Testament we haue much larger instruction, shal it be tollerable to adde an vnwritten word. Other Canonicall bookes? Other arti­cles of faith? Jf the Gospell be sufficient to saue vs, who shal be so bold as to say that the new Testament doth containe but part of the Gospel? To alleadge ei­ther the tiranny of custome, or the an­tiquity of a traditiō, without the word of God, what is it but to alleadge the antiquitie of Error: and to arme both Iewes & Gentils with the like reasons? cōsidering that vntruth is very ancient [Page 43] yea it hath beene even from the begin­ning: also that against the truth no pre­scription of time may take place.

To ioine therfore to the holy scrip­tures an vnwritten word, and to make the traditions of the Romish Church equal with the bookes of the olde and new Testamēt, is a great disparagemēt to the Maiestie of the holy Scripture: It is as much as to do that which expre­sly is forbiddē in the law of Moses, that is to plow with an oxe and an asse: to yoake togither things very vnequall: to make man equall with God, and the lead of the Popes Buls with the pure steele of the spiritual sword of the Gospel. True it is that they tearme these Traditions the word of God and tradi­tions of the Apostles: but they shewe not when or to whom God did first in­spire them. They deliver vnto vs the Canon of the Masse for an Apostolical tradition, wherein neverthelesse they name some persons that lived three hū ­dred yeares after the Apostles time. [Page 44] Thus the Indulgences: the forgiunesse of all sins at the end of every 25. yeares. The communion vnder one kinde: The fetching of souls out of Purgatory by Popish Indulgences: The prohibiting of the lay people from reading of the holy Scriptures: The custome to pray in a tongue vnknown even to him that praieth: The feast of God; The Elevati­on and walking of their consecrated cake vp and downe: The hallowed Graines and Medals: The fraternity of S. Frances Corde loaden with so manie pardons and priviledges and such like trash,Can. satis Dist. 96. & Gloss. Clem. cum inter. Sacr. Cerem. sect 7. cap. 6. sedes Dei se­des Apostoli­ca. The last Councell of Lateran sess. 9. Divi­nae Maiesta­tis tuae con­spectus. which them selues do confesse were brought in long since the Apo­stles time; shal by this reckoning be holden for the word of God and the Tradi­ons of the Apostles: And that with good reason, sith the Pope assumeth to himselfe the name of God and his holi­nesse: The divine Maiestie: and in infi­nite places in his Cannons The Spouse of the Church: yea, as saith Bellarmine de Pontif. Rom. lib. 1-cap. 9. etiam Christo [Page 45] secluso evē Jesus Christ excluded or set aside. Sith that likewise the Pope tear­meth office Apostolat, all his furniture Apostolicall, as his chamber, his letters, his chaire: his cloake: his Pallace. And vnlesse God take pitty vpon vs, they will shortly call his hose and points A­postolicall. Now that in all this the drift of our Masters tendeth only to shunne the holy scriptures which condemne them, it appeareth in these words: The vnwritten word. For what is the vnwritten word but a Chimera in the aire: an imperceptible Idea? For where can we finde this vnwritten word? If we must seeke it (as they say) at the mouth of the vniversall Church, when shal I haue ga­thered together the vniversall Church to instruct me? Or if the people must haue recourse to their Curat, how shal they know whether their Curate agre­eth with the vniversall Church? What side shall we take where the doctors do disagree? As do now these three do­ctors, who are growne to censure and [Page 46] in their pulpits to disclaime one of thē ▪

Or if one bee borne in an hereticall Church: or betweene two Churches grounded vpon contrary Traditions, as betweene the Greeke and the Romain? But if wee must seeke this vnwritten word of God in the bookes of ancient doctors, then it is written: and albeit these bookes be subiect to errour, yet the Traditions of the Romish Church as the afore named and Purgatory are not there to be found, as hereafter we shall proue.

Moreover in as much as they would make vs beleeue that the Pope hath such letters of credence, that wee must therefore do all that he commandeth, and beleeue all that he list to perswade vs, albeit this bee not found in the holie scripture, yet whē the church of Rome hath neede of Reformation in capite & membris: [as it is the ancient cōplaint] what meanes is there to proceed, con­sidering that he that is to bee reformed is the maker of the lawes, & soveraigne [Page 47] Iudge in all matters of Religion, & con­sequently in his owne cause? God for­bid that man should bee iudge over the cause of God: or that all the Popes in­ventions for the advācing of their Em­pire, should be holden for the word of God, and the rule of our faith. But let vs here the productiōs of these doctors & all those things that they say are not cōtained in the Scripturs. Our observā ­tin Moncke shall march formost and haue the first place. He saith that tho­rough out all the old Testament there is not one expresse worde concerning the Immortalitie of the soule. Admit it were so: yet what interest had he to search out the defects of the holy scrip­ture? But had he sought wel, he might haue found these wordes in the last of Daniell. Dan. 12.2. Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever­lasting life, and some to shame & contempt. What can bee spoken more expresly? And in the 12. of Ecclesiastes, v. 7. And dust returne to the earth as it was, and the [Page 48] spirit returne to God that gaue it. And in the 23. of Numbers, Balaam desireth to die the death of the righteous. An evi­dent proofe that he held their death to be blessed. But were this frier Minor as well acquainted with the holy Scrip­tures as he is with the rule of S. Frances, he would never haue vttered a speech so impertinent and ful of impietie: for the which hee deserveth to change his order, and from the Observantine fry­erie to be sent to the ignorant friers.

The auctor of the fire of Helie broa­ceth it much deeper, he demādeth how by the holy scriptures wee canne proue this proposition, That the holy Scripture containeth all that we ought to beleeue. But this is not our saying: for we may and ought to beleeue many things that are not contained in the holy Scripture. In such maner do we beleeue that Romulus with a troope of theeues built Rome:Stella. Platina. The booke of Indulgē ­ces printed at Rome. wee beleeue the history of Pope Io [...]e, as a history advowed by many auctors, both friends and servants to the Popes, [Page 52] and of whom there yet remaine manie traces and causes of remembrance: wee beleeue that Alexander. 3. did set his foot vpon the throat of Fredericke Bar­berossa, Volateran. Sabellicus. Martianus Polonus. vpon the staires of S. Markes Church at Venice, where this his so he­roical exploit is to this day represented: we beleeue those histories that recorde howe the Emperour Henrie the 7. was poysoned in their consecrated cake:Their God poisoned. with a thousand such like histories, both old and newe, whereof the scripture ne­ver made mentiō. Only we say that the holy scriptures doe containe all docu­ments and instructions necessary to salvation: This doe we say with. S. Paul, who in the 2. to Tim. cap. 3. v. 15. saith It is able to make vs wise to salvation: what more can we demand? The same Apostle, 1. Cor. 4, 6. teacheth vs Not to presume aboue that which is written: & toward the end of the new Testament we find these words. I protest vnto every one that heareth the Prophecie of this booke, that if any man shal adde vnto these [Page 50] things, God shal adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke, whereto our adversaries can frame no other re­ply,Consilium foro Iulii. but that this curse extendeth no farther but to the booke of the Revela­tion. Yet doth the councell of Triuly bridle them in these words, The protestation of the Apostle Iohn in the Revelation, vnder the title of one booke hath relation to the whole course of both the Testaments, saying, if any man adde, &c.

Againe, he challengeth me to proue by the holy Scriptures these 8 things, which vnderhand he supposeth to bee necessary to salvation.In the In­dex Bibli­cus print­ed at An­werp by Plantin 1588. p. 5. 1. The baptisme of young children: which neverthelesse is proved by the Iesuits and Doctors of the Vniversitie of Lovaine, also by the Catechisme of the Councell of Trent, & by many passages of the holy Scrip­ture. Thus this Doctor opposeth him­selfe against a corporation of Romish Doctors, an Vniversity, and the Coun­cell of Trent. 2. The not reiterating of baptisme against the Anabaptists: which is [Page 51] the same with the baptisme of young children: for the Anabaptists doe re­baptise those whom we haue baptised: as holding baptisme in infancie to bee no baptisme. 3. Rom. 8.9.11. Ioh. 14 26. & 16.14. The proceeding of the holy Ghost: which is proved by the places where he is called the spirit of God and the spirit of Christ: and the comforter whom the father sendeth in the name of the sonne: which taketh of the sonne &c. 4. The consubstantialitie of the father and of the sonne. Which is proued in this. That the sonne is God, Ioh. 1.1. Even our great God, Tit. 2, 13. conse­quently one God with the father, for there is but one God. 1. Cor. 8.6. and be­ing one selfe God, they are by conse­quence one selfe substance. Wee haue also S. Iohn in his first Epistle cap. 5. who saith thus. There be three that bear record in heauen: the Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost, and these three are one. 5. He would haue said Anti-dico­marianites, or Heluidi­ans. The perpetuall virginitie of the Virgin Mary against the Anti marianites: but this is no point necessary to salvation: The [Page 54] seemelinesse, rather then any necessitie induceth vs to beleeue it. 6. The transla­tion of the Sabaoth to the Sonday. An arti­cle not necessary to salvation:Apoc 1 I was ravi­shed in spirit vpon a sonday. yet doe we see by the Revel. 1.10. and by the 1. Cor. 16.1. and by the Act. 20.7. that this Institution was made in the time of the Apostles. 7. The celebration of the feast of Easter against the Quarto Decima­nis. Which also is of no greater impor­tance to salvation: witnesse the censure and reprimendum sent by Ireneus to Vi­ctor Bishop of Rome, who skirmished fiercly in that quarrell. This Epistle of Ireneus is extant in the Ecclesiasticall historie of Eusebius, lib. 5. cap: 23.8. That there are but three persons in the Trinitie a matter which neither the holy Scrip­ture, nor any mā that ever had any one drop of common sense did ever studie to perswade: for in a dualitie there can be but two, in a Trinitie three. 9. Lastly he bringeth in The washing of the Apo­stle's feet, which (saith hee) wee cannot proue to be no sacrament, & therevpon hee [Page 55] great lights: De Maiorit. & obed. tit. 33. Can. Soli­ta quanta in­ter solem & lunam, tanta inter Pontif. & Reges differentia. Arist. Phis. li. 4. cap. 4. the greater is the Pope and the lesser is the Emperor, and kings as saith Pope Innocent the 3. These our Masters, I say, so full of their subtilties and invention in their explications, which according to the doctrine of A­ [...]axagor as doe draw all things out of al things, could they not aswell proue these eight points by the scripture, as we with all our doltishnesse, haue foūd them out without any difficultie? But the truth is that it was no want of invē ­tiō in them, but lack of good meaning. And these defects in the Scriptures doe they seek out, the rather that we might not thinke much, that in the Scriptures there is no speech of painting of the Trinitie: of worshipping of Images: of fetching soules out of Purgatory by Popish Indulgences: of their Pastors abstinence from marriage: of th [...] [...] [...]ctions of meats: to be brief [...] their traditions: In these consi [...]ns it stā ­deth them vpon to ab [...] authori [...] of the Scriptures, [...] accus [...] [...] [Page 54] [...] [Page 55] [...] [Page 54] [...] [Page 55] [...] [Page 56] of imperfection. Yet is it their sur [...] course to prohibit the people from re [...] ding of them, and from learning any thing but at their mouthes who haue most interest in the suppressing of thē and doe reape most commodity of the peoples ignorance. I could therefore wish that the auctors of these torrents, fires and furnaises, would lay their hā [...] to their consciences (if they cā find any) and vpon their doctorall faith tell vs whether this vnwritten words & these letters of credence be not a means pre­pared by the Pope, thereby to forg [...] new articles for his commodity? A secret corner wherein to coine false mo­ny, and to clip the word of God? The [...] consciences must say yes; they are ove [...] wise to be ignorant thereof: but world­ly reasons carry them away: in som [...] hope of gaine: in some feare, and in some worldly devises doe speake lowder, and haue greater voice in the Chapter house, then conscience.

In as much therefore as the word [Page 57] [...]f God contained in the old and newe [...]estament, is the only and sufficiēt rule [...]f our faith, and that Purgatory (if wee [...]eleeue our adversaries) is to bee belee­ [...]ed as an article of our faith, & that vn­ [...]er paine of damnation; it is strange [...]hat God in the old Testament, having [...]rdained sacrifices, & expiations for al [...]orts of sinnes and pollutions, even to [...]he Leprosie: to the bloody flixe, [...]nd to the touching of any dead [...]ody, &c. did never ordaine any expi­ [...]tion, sacrifice, satisfaction or pray­ [...]r for the soules that were in Pur­gatorie. The ancient Patriarkes & good [...]ervants of God, Abraham, Isaac, Iacob, [...]oseph, Moses, Aaron, Iosua, Samuell, or David, never desired after their deathes [...]o be prayed for, neither did themselues pray for any that was dead, that God would vouchsafe to bring them out of Purgatory. True it is that they bewai­ [...]ed their dead: but among al their mournings, weepings, fastings, and lamenta­tions, wee find no path to purgatory, [Page 58] neither any one prayer to fetch the soules of the deceased out of Purgato­ry: and indeed such lamentations and fastings, were made even for the wic­ked, & such as died in Gods displeasure: As for Saul, to whom it was said by the Pithonesse not many houres before his death, that God was against him, who also died soone after his consultation with the witch: David likewise bewai­led Absalon, who died in rebellion and treason against his owne father: yet for such [saith the Church of Rome] wee must not pray. How grievous were the teares vpon the death of Iacob and Mo­ses, who as holy and rare lights of the Church, could never bee confined into Purgatory? The high Priest of the Law never granted Indulgences, neither made any intercession to abridge this so scalding a punishment: neither did they that died make any foundations of services,Pag. 16.18. or sacrifices to redeem their soules out of this fire. Here doth our frier seeke a starting hole, but the clef [...] [Page 59] is to straight for him to creep through. He complaineth that In liew of seeking the true light in the law of Grace, that is to say, the Gospell, we looke for it in the darke and obscure law of Moses. To speak plain­ly, he refuseth the old Testament, as an incompetent Iudge, for the darkenesse thereof. But to this obiection, wee doe answer, that indeed the prophecies of things to come, and the ceremonies of the old Testament, are not so cleere & easie as the Gospel yet are Gods Com­mandements therein laid down in plain and open tearmes. Wee therefore de­mand what commandement of God he can find throughout the old Testamēt, wherein it is commanded to pray for the dead, or to offer any sacrifice for them, either among them to distribute the superabundant merits and satisfac­tions of holy men deceased as Abraham or Moses, to helpe them out of Purga­tory? Here our adversaries are at a stand and bite the bit: for were there any cō ­mandement that might bear wreasting [Page 60] to that sence, they that can so cunning­ly rack the Scriptures to their purposes would no doubt haue produced it. Here doth our Frier frie in his greace, & would faine shift it of with blasphe­mies, as they that are beset with fires would gladly leap out at the windows. He doth no longer accuse the olde Te­stament of obscuritie, but of omission and impection. How many things (saith he) hath God left vnmentioned in the olde Testament, Pag. 16. to the end, to take from the peo­ple all occasion of Idolatry? and yet are ne­cessarie to saluation? As invocation of the Trinitie: Pag. 18. the immortalitie of the soule, &c Againe he saith, vnder the law prayers for the dead were not so frequēt & publike, least they should giue the Iewes occasiō with the Gentils, to thinke that they ought to sa­crifice to the infernall powers. Secondly, that in regard that before the redemption of man kind the estate of the deceased, was not so well knowne, as after that our Savi­our Iesus Christ descended into hell. And thirdly, because they had not so good means [Page 61] to relieue the dead, as they had after that the merits of the death and passion of our Lord were committed into the hands of the Church to apply them: So many wordes so many monsters and blasphemies.

First in that hee denieth that in the old Testament there is any mention of the Immortality of the soule, wee haue before heard the depositions of Daniell, Salomon, and the Prophet Bala­am prophecying. Let vs hereto adioine the taking vp of Enoch and Elias into heaven, proofes of their immortality. The wordes of Iacob on his death bed, Lord I haue waited for thy salvation: Gen. 49.18 Iob. 18.26. The hope of Iob who assured himselfe that after his skinne should be consumed he should yet see God in his flesh. The words of God himselfe, who saith, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, Mat. 22.32. and the God of Iacob: God is not God of the dead [saith Jesus Christ] but of the liuing. The only name of Religion importeth the Immortality of the soule: which being taken away, what is Religion but an in­tollerable [Page 62] yoake: a scrupelous feare, a superfluous labour? If in this life only (saith S. Paul) we haue hope in Christ, wee are of all men the most miserable: 1. Cor. 17.19. & what was the old Testament but the Religiō of Gods people? It doth therefore pre­suppose and as it were in the forehead beare written this title. The Immortali­ty of the soule. As for Invocation of the Trinity, it is commanded in the old Testament: for there we are commaun­ded to call vpon God, and he that cal­leth vpon God, calleth vpon the Tri­nitie.

But what shall we say to the discreti­on of our Moncke, who maketh God marveilous provident, in that he would not speake of the Immortalitie of the soule, so to take from the Jewes all oc­casion of Idolatry: alas poore man! God cureth not one evill by an other, much lesse a smaller evill by a greater: Idolatry by Atheisme: or superstition by Irreligion the mother of all excesse. As if it should be forbidden to speak of [Page 63] God, either good or evill, for feare of blaspheming him: or as if a man should cut of his head for saving the wearing of a cap. What discretion! to loose the principall for saving of the dependant? To sell the horse for saving of the hay? God provideth not against evils in such manner as the Popes: who will [saie they] prevent heresies by prohibiting the vse of Gods word: the diminishing of Ecclesiasticall profits by prohibiting marriage of the Cleargie,Dist. 18 Can Sirac vxor & filii per quos Ecclesi­ast solet peri­clitari sub­stantia. contrarie to the doctrine of S. Paul. 1. Tim. 3.2. how­beit if God followed this precept of discretion in the old Testament, why did he alter his mind in the new? where with too much simplicity [if we beleue this Moncke] he doth in every place in­culcate Eternall life? Are men since the daies of Jesus Christ lesse bent to Ido­latry? Nay which is more, The opinion of the death of the soule & Idolatry do for the most part follow each other, & between them there is a fraternity. The heathen that had little or no hope of e­ternal [Page 64] life were Idolaters: did not Pope Iohn 24. celebrating his Masse kneele to the bread, yet did he beleeue that the souls of men died, as the souls of beasts: for which small sin togither with 54. others,Consil Const. Sess. 11. the Councell of Constance in their eleventh session condemned him.

That which ensueth is ferial & smel­leth of the friery. He yeeldeth an other reason why in the old Testament pray­ers and sacrifices for the deade were so vnfrequented. It was (saith he) because before the redemption of mankinde ehe estate of the dead was not so well knowne, as after that Christ descended into Hell. He doth therefore presuppose that Jesus Christ when he came from hell, brought assu­red news: as if that Jesus Christ before his death knew not the state of the dead as well as after his resurrection: or els that either he would not, or could not instruct his disciples of the estate of the dead as wel before his death, as after. But now I pray you what be the news that Jesus Christ brought? vndoubted­ly [Page 65] even the same that the golden legend and the booke of the life and death of Jesus Christ do report: how he came to hel gates and the good thiefe Dinas ca­rying a Crosse before him: how hee made the gates to be opened: how hee beat and hampered the Divels: how he entertained the fathers whom he foūd in this Limbo with goodly discourses, & a thousande such Iolly gallant histories after the imitation of the Romanes, all which the Evangelists had forgotten: for either of these, or of any other news that ever Jesus Christ brought out of Limbo, out of Purgatory or out of Hell we finde not one sillable in all the newe Testament. The souldier raised again of whom S. Gregory Dialogue 4. cap. 36. doth make mention, and one Nicholas men­tioned in the legend of S. Patricke who by a Caue that he found in Ireland, en­tred into Purgatory, at their returne related his things as they had seen below, more exactly: As that they had seen mē fryed in frying pans: others fluttering [Page 66] about the chimnies like small flames: a bridge of yce of two fingers broad, vn­der the which ran a torrent of fire, and over this bridge must they passe that were to enter into Paradice. Thus grew the world very skilfull and a good boy: but to the detriment of the purity and simplicity of the Gospell. Lastly he saith that Vnder the olde Testament they had no such meanes to releeue the dead, as they had after that the merites of Iesus Christ were committed into the handes of the Church to apply them. These are three principles forged in the Vatican to vn­derprop the Popes greatnes & to bring in the traffique for soules: first that the dead could not bee so well relieved be­fore the cōming of Jesus Christ as now they are Secondly, that the merits of Jesus Christ are nowe in the Churches hands to apply thē. Thirdly that these merits of the death and passion of Iesus Christ were never passed over to the Church vntill since the comming of Ie­sus Christ, since which time the dead [Page 67] haue beene the better relieved. And this is to bee noted, that by the Church we are to vnderstand the Pope, who ta­keth vpon him to be the Guardian and treasury of this treasure of the Church, where he shutteth vp the merits and su­pererogatorie satisfactions both of Ie­sus Christ and of the Saints & Monks. And this we cannot finde very strange:Dist. 95. cau­sa satis. and in the last councel of Lateran, sess. 9. Extrav. De facund. Eccl. Can. quoniā. for having assumed to himselfe the name of God, & of the divine Maiesty: and the name of Jesus Christ, and tear­ming himself the Spouse of the church, it is no great matter for him to take the name of the Spouse of Jesus also. Let vs now therfore proceed to the exami­nation of these three principles.

For the first. That the dead could not bee so well relieved before the comming of Iesus Christ as since: I demande whether he speaketh of the reliefe of man, or of the reliefe of God. To say that God hath now better meanes to relieue the dead then he had before is Blasphemy. His power and goodnesse are ever infi­nite [Page 68] and without encrease, and craue no helpe of any new means: but if he speak of the reliefe of man, I aske him who imparted to them now those meanes that their forefathers had not? The Monke no doubt wil say that God gaue them to them: thē belike God had thē. If he had then I suppose he would then haue bestowed them as wel as men do in these daies: whereof it must follow that the faithfull that liued before Iesus Christ, might by praiers and sacrifices haue entreated God to employ those means which since he hath committed into hands the of men. Wherefore did they not? Wherefore was there in the law no sacrifice for the dead? Nor no publike service instituted by God? Thus doth this difficulty still remaine vnre­solved.

The second principle is, That the me­rits of Iesus Christ were cōmitted into the hands of the Church to apply them. 1. Tim. 2.6. A do­ctrine as farre repugnant from the gos­pell, as helping to the Popes commo­dity. [Page 69] For by the scripture it plainely ap­peareth, That Iesus Christ offered himselfe [...] ransome to God for vs to whom wee were endebted and enthralled to eternall paine and emprisonment. This ransome then did God receiue at his sonnes hands: If he receiued it, when did he againe dis­possesse himselfe of it, to passe it over into the Popes hands? May it be lawful for vs in a matter of such importance, which concerneth the participation in the merites of Jesus Christ, to speake without the authority of the worde of God. Againe, what prodigious dealing is this: that a creditor having received of his debtors surety the ransome for many prisoners, shoulde deliver the same over into the handes of some one of his prisoners, to apply it to the rest? It is a matter not only without exam­ple, but even besides all reason. All men do know that in such a case it is enough that the creditor or detainer receiue the ransome, and that the debter or pri­soner reape and enioy the benefit. God [Page 70] hath for me receaved the full ransom by the hands of my surety & redeeme [...] Iesus Christ: God then hath it with himselfe, therefore will I go neither to the Pope nor to any other to entreat them to distribute it to me, but will rely onlie vpon Iesus Christ and will trust to his death, and in acknowledgement of so great a favour, will consecrate my life to his service. The pastors are set over vs to preach this benefit to the peni­tent sinner, & to let him vnderstād that he is reconciled to God: also that who­soever beleeveth in Iesus Christ, shal through his name obtaine remission of his sinnes.Act. 10.43. If our frier shall yet invent a­ny reason to proue it to bee necessarie that the Pope or his Prelates should be the treasurers and dispensers of the me­rits of Iesus Christ, he shal but skirmish with him selfe: for he shal find the same necessities before the comming of Ie­sus Christ: considering that both quick and dead in that age stoode in no lesse necessity of Gods graces then they that [Page 71] liue in these daies. Againe if the Pope haue in his treasury the merits of Iesus Christ & his Saints, to distribute them to others, how commeth it that he ta­keth none to himselfe? Or why doth he not keepe for himselfe so many as may serue to keepe him out of Purgatorie? How is it that after his death they saie so many Masses for his soule? Must sillie Priests by their Masses and suffrages apply & bestow the merits of Iesus Christ and his Saints vpon him who distribu­ting them to others, yea even so farre forth as to graunt to some one an hun­dred thousand yeare: of plenary pardō, could not reserue enough for himselfe, albeit [if we list to beleeue him] himself continually carryed the keies of this treasure even to his last gaspe? Where note withall that if the distributing and applying of the merits of Iesus Christ to the faithfull, be a part of the Pastors charge, it followeth that the dead haue no part in this the Popes liberality, considering that he is no longer their pa­stor. [Page 72] Now let the reader iudge whether this gay principle be not a butteresse or prop to support tiranny: that the peo­ple may thinke that they cannot parti­cipate in the merits of Iesus Christ, but by the hands of the Pope, or of such as he doth authorize therevnto.

The third principle is the worst, and as it were vpon the highest step of im­pietie: and therefore it is our dutie to cast it downe headlong. The merits of Iesus Christ (saith hee) were not in the hands of the Church vnder the old Te­stament, as now they are, and therefore there were not so good meanes to re­lieue the dead. But here we wil set down another principle, gathered out of the word of God. That is, that the merits of Iesus Christ were of power sufficient to saue the faithfull even from the be­ginning of the world, as saith S^t. Paule, 2. Cor. 5.19. God was in Christ and reconci­led the world to himself, not imputing their sinnes vnto them. Therefore in the Reve­lation is he called, The Lambe slaine from [Page 73] the beginning of the world. This merite was then with God and ful of efficacy, before the comming of Iesus Christ in the flesh. Let vs then by this rule exa­mine our Doctors principle. Before the comming of Iesus Christ in the flesh, the merit of Iesus Christ was with God: not in the hands of the Church. Then [saith this Doctor] the dead had the lesse helpe: but since the Pope and his Prelats had these merits in their hands, the dead haue beene much better relie­ved, the merits therfore of Iesus Christ are in better hands and more liberall. Is it because God is not so well affected to the dead as the Pope? Or because the Pope is more liberal of anothers goods then the true owner? O spirit of Satan! O dulnesse of man! O patience of God! And shall not God revenge such abo­minable prophanation of his glory? Or such evident corruption of his worde? Let vs lament & confesse that our sins haue deserued a greater blindnesse. Yet in the meane time we must not forget [Page 74] that our adversaries doe commit the merits of Jesus Christ into the Popes hand, that he may apply them both to the quicke and to the dead: & that they say, that since he was treasurer the dead haue beene much better relieved, it must needes followe that not only the dead before the cōming of Iesus Christ were but slenderly relieued but also the living: so with like reason may wee say that the praiers for the living vnder the old Testament were nothing so fre­quent and publicke as they haue beene since the merits of Iesus Christ fell into the handes of the Church to apply them: but this the frier dare not advow. Thus is falsehood detected and laid o­pen, and the spirit of blasphemy put to confusion. Now in all this discourse the Friers drift tendeth to yeeld some pro­bable reason why the prayers and sacri­fices for the dead are not so frequent in the old Testament: wherein he practi­seth two frauds. First in saying they were not frequent, he vnderhand leaues [Page 75] it to be presupposed that they were v­sed somtimes, which is false. For therof we find neither example, nor comman­dement in all the olde Testament. Se­condly, in seeking to excuse the want in the old Testament, he giueth occasion to the ignorant to thinke that the same were very frequent in the new, which also is false. For in the new Testament we heare no more newes thereof then in the old. Only there is one place that instructeth vs how the faithfull should beare themselues towardes the dead, wherein there is not any speech of suf­frages, Purgatory, or Indulgences. The place is in the Thessalonians, 1.4.13. in these words. I would not brethren haue you ignorant as concerning them that are asleepe. That you sorrow not, even as others that haue no hope: for if we beleeue that Ie­sus is dead, and is risen againe, even so thē which sleepe in Iesus will God bring with him. Herein is nothing that commeth any thing neere the trafficke and trade of these daies.

[Page 76]The whole sum of this Chapter is this, that the holy Scripture is sufficient to instruct vs to salvation: that it ought to decide these controversies: that the sacrifices & suffrages for the dead, with the fetching of soules out of Purgato­ry by Buls and Indulgences, are neither by God instituted or commanded, and that even by the confessions of our ad­versaries; who in al their burning books cannot produce any commandement of God touching the same; but to shroud themselues doe produce other points, which they pretend to be omit­ted in the holy Scriptures. Being depri­ved of these weapons, which are their surest, they shelter themselues vnder o­thers: and wanting the Commande­ments of God, they haue recourse to examples, allegories, & coniectures, e­ven as men that catch vp stones, when they haue no swords. Wee will shewe you as it were at high noone, that their examples are false, their allegories fri­volous, their coniectures vaine, & their [Page 77] consequences violent and strained a­gainst the haire. This is it which in the fourth Chapter wee will proue. But now let vs quēch their Purgatory with the waters of Gods word: for that once extinguished their Indulgences & Mas­ses for the dead, must needes fall and decay.

CAP. 3. That the holy Scripture subverteth Pur­gatory: and that there is no satisfaction or washing away of sinnes, but only the blood of Iesus Christ, and consequently, that the Popes Indulgences are of no vse to the dead.

IN the 18.Vers. 21.22 of the Prophet Ezechiel God saith thus. If the wicked will re­turne from all the sinnes that hee hath committed, & keep all my statutes, and doe that which is law­full [Page 78] and right, he shall surely liue & not dy [...] I will not remember all his iniquities. Call yee it not to remember any more, whē yee put the sinner to feele his punish­ment in a burning fire of so long conti­nuance, and to keepe him in a prison from the which [as our adversaries say] he shall not be delivered vntill hee hath paid the vttermost penny? The Frier could by no meanes avoid this place but by corrupting of the text. For in­steed of these words returne from all his sinnes, he saith, doe pennance: and by this pennance, he vnderstandeth to scourge himselfe: to fast: to run on pilgrimage to giue to the Church, &c. But if hee could haue read the Hebrew, he should haue found Iashuv, hee shall returne, or turne aside: As indeed amendment of life is the true and necessary pennance, which is a returning to God, commen­ded vnto vs by S. Iohn Baptist, saying, [...], Repent you, or Amend you, and S^t. Iohn, Revel. 2. speaking to the Church of Ephesus, which had lost her first cha­ritie, [Page 79] commandeth her to repent, and to doe her first workes. But in our daies that pennance which thē was a vertue, is now become a ceremony, and from a spirituall changing is now become a bodily exercise. Superstition hath now brought religion to the fingers ends, to counterfeitings, to gestures, to scour­gings, to fastings, to pilgrimages, to pecuniary satisfactions, to weare a haire­shirt, to a friers coule, to a walking vp and downe with a wallet, &c.

Here hence grew the condemnation of Luther in the end of the Councel of Lateran,Bul. Exurge. Domine. Optima pae­nitentia no­va vita. because among other the he­resies to him imputed, he said that of all pennances Amendment of life was the best, Esa. 58.5.6. and yet it is the word of God say­ing to his people, Rent your hearts and not your clothes: Also that the true fast consisted in losing the bands of wickednes, and breaking his bread to the hungry. Frō this fountaine proceedeth the vse to weare some words of the Gospel about mens neckes, when they should keepe [Page 80] the substance of them in their heartes: to weare a crosse on the brest or in the hat, when they should take vp the crosse of Christ and reioice in his suffe­ringt. Thus our Monke by doing of iu­stice and iudgement, which signifieth to deale vprightly, and to giue to every man his owne, vnderstandeth it to cha­stise a mans selfe, shewing himselfe a Novice in the phrase of the old Testa­ment where this word Iudgement signi­fieth equitie and vpright dealing. As in Deut. 32 4. Daniel. 4.37. The Auctor of the fire of Helie answereth otherwise: [for they seldome concurre in their an­swers] he will haue these words I will no more remember to signifie, Pag. 6. I will not pu­nish as an enimie, that is to say, with e­ternall punishment. By his account the keeping of a man many thousands of yeares in a fire for his sinne, signifieth not to remember his sinne. How often did David pray to God to remember his sinnes and wickednesse of his eni­mies: yet not so that he desired that God [Page 81] should punish them with eternall pu­nishment. After all this the frier ma­keth a digression, wherein hee chargeth vs with sundry slanders, but all besides the matter.

2 Gods Angell, Revelat. 14.13, saith thus, Blessed are the dead that hereafter dy in the Lord, yea truly, the spirit saith that they rest from their labours, & their works follow them. Surely if they rest from their labours, they goe not into a burning fire. This speech concerneth not the Martyres only, as our adversaries doe faine: for throughout that whole chapter there is not any word of the Mar­tyres, but of all such as keepe the com­mandements of God, & faith of Iesus, as it is said one line before. But if the Martyres only doe die in the Lord, in whom doe the rest of the faithfull die? Bellarmine saith they die in part in the Lord, and in part not in the Lord:Bellarm. de Purgat. lib. 6. cap. 1. hee was ashamed to say in part in the Lord, and in part in the divell.

3 Esay, cap. 57. v. 1. & 2. saith, The righteous [Page 82] perisheth and is taken away from the evill, then he addeth, Hee shall enter in peace, or, peace shall come: they shall rest in their beds, every one that hath walked be­fore him. Why did he not except those that goe to Purgatory? or what peace or rest is there in a burning fire? And this is the point wherein the Frier is brought into such a straight that his only recourse is to his ordinary boldnesse,Pag. 19. and laboureth to make this passage a meanes to establish his Purgatory. Hee affirmeth it to bee a prayer of Esay for the dead, and to make it the more probable, in liew of these words, Peace shall come, he saith, let peace come, also for They doe rest he saith, let them rest contrary to the truth of the original Hebrew, which hath Iavo, that is to say, shal come and Ianuchu, they shall rest. Yet let vs thus farre yeeld all this to his ignorance in the Hebrew tongue: but herein doth he shew his bad meaning, even in this, that hee affirmeth it to bee a prayer of Esay: sith by the words ensuing it appea­reth [Page 83] that they bee the wordes of God, who saith Yee witches children come hi­ther, yee seed of the adulterer and of the whore drawe neere: Whome haue yee mocked &c. and againe. Can I be content with all these things, and thou hast discovered thy selfe behind mee? Throughout all this Chapter God opposeth the blessed e­state of the righteous against the curse prepared for the wicked.

4 S. Paule to the Corinthians saith.2. Cor. 5.1. If our earthly habitation be destroied, we haue an eternall building in heaven. But why did he not adde, but that shall bee after you are purged with fire?

5 The Apostle in the 9. to the He­brewes, saith. It is ordained that all men shall once die, & after that the iudgement: He forgat Purgatory, that should haue gon betweene. For throughout the ho­ly Scripture we find not any other iudgment spoken of after death, but the last and vniversall iudgement.

6 In the 20. Matt. the laborers doe all receaue their promised wages towards [Page 84] the end of the day, that is to say, in the end of their liues and when their works is done: but Purgatory can bee no part of this labour, as the auctor of the fire of Helie would haue it to be: for in that place they speake only of labouring in the Lords vinyard, which is his church: which hath no communitie with any torment in fire. Againe, Purgatory cā ­not be the last houre of the day, be­cause they make it continue much lon­ger then all the life. Besides that even in this last houre some labourers are cal­led and hired, but in Purgatory no man is called to the service of God.

7 In the holy Scriptures we haue many examples of men receaved into Pa­radice immediatly after their decease, but no example of any soule sent into Purgatory:Luk. 2.26. Simeon had a promise that he should not see death before hee had seene the Messias. S. Paul. 2. Tim. 4. saith, that after he had fought the good fight there remained no more but to receaue the crowne of glory. And S, Luk, cap. 1 [...] [Page 85] saith that the Angels carried the soule of Lazarus into Abrahams bosome: where hee was comforted whiles the [...]ich man was tormented, but of any passage to Purgatory, either to or fro, we heare no newes.

8 Iesus Christ said to the good theif This day thou shalt be with me in Paradice. This thiefe was surely a great sinner, & satisfied civill iustice either for theft or murder. But where had hee made satis­faction to God for all his sinnes com­mitted all the daies of his life? Hee that was converted to God in the very arti­cle of his death? But God requireth no satisfactory paines of such as doe re­pent: but for them hee doth accept of the obedience and death of Iesus Christ who hath sufficiently satisfied aswell for our sinnes as for the punishment due to our sinnes. The auctor of the fire of Helie, with the rest will needes haue this priviledge to bee granted to this thiefe in regard of the greatnesse of his faith, of his hope, of his charitie, of his [Page 86] zeale, &c. wherein they doe the more accuse themselues. 2. By exalting the faith of the thiefe, they do at vnawares confesse that in case we haue a stedfast faith in Iesus Christ we shall not come in Purgatory. 3. Herein also they do cō ­fesse that it standeth with the iustice of God freely and without imposing any satisfactory paines to pardon, alwaies provided that the sinner haue a stedfast faith and hope in Iesus Christ. 4. How could this thiefe at Gods hand merite this privilege by his faith and hope: considering that God endued him with this faith? For what kind of merit is this, to receaue the gifts and graces of God with a stedfast faith, which faith also God gaue him, who giueth not only the benefits, but also the means to receaue them? And the same doe I say also of o­ther vertues which were the gifts and effects of the spirit of God in him: For it is God that worketh the will and the deed saith S. Paul, Phil. 2.13. 2. Cor. 3.6. and without him wee cannot thinke any good, saith the same Apostle. [Page 87] 5. Let vs step yet farther. We demande how, where, or when the thiefe bare the satisfactory paines for his sinne to­wards God? But here in liew of answe­ring directly they stand vpon the mag­nifying and extolling of the faith, cha­ritie, and zeale of this thiefe: but to what purpose, seeing vertues are no sa­tisfactory paines, but rather lenitiues, and proppes to strengthen and fortify the soule against all the griefes thereof. 6. That which I hold to be the princi­pall in this case is this. That these our Masters doe make the charitie, zeale & patience of this thiefe in a moment to be of so great merit as to exempt him from the torments of Purgatory: yet that they will not graunt that the cha­ritie of the faithfull that are in this bur­ning fire, their zeale, or any other the vertues which in these soules were in greater perfection then they were in the thiefe [in that hee was yet a sinner] could haue any merit, or power to draw them out of this fire. But wherefore [Page 88] should they by their magisterial aucto­ritie take from these poore soules the power of meriting but only by prolon­ging the torments of the dead, the consciences of the living being the more a­stonished, might bee stirred vp to re­deeme them whiles they may by mas­ses, anniversaries, & gifts to the Church? yea and that so far forth as to perswade the people that an offering for the dead being by a surviver offred, was of pow­er and merit to free the dead from that torment: and yet that in the dead him­selfe neither his faith, neither his chari­tie, neither his patience, no not the tor­ments of many yeares haue any merit, or can moue God to abridge this tor­ment? 7. Hereto let vs also adioine thus much, that the punishment that the thiefe suffered, being deserved, inevita­ble and by civill iustice imposed vpon him, could not bee counted for a satis­factorie worke to God: for hee ought voluntarily to haue vndergon it, and by order of the Church, not by sentence [Page 89] of the Magistrate, especially according to the doctrine of the Romish Church. [...]. Moreover is it not a meere mockage [...]o say that the exemption from ente­ [...]ing into Purgatory was a privilege granted to this thiefe,Bellarm. lib. 1. cap 8 Pri­vilegia pau­corum legem non faciunt. considering that [...]hroughout all the worde of God wee cānot find the example of any one that ever went into Purgatory? Privileges are extraordinary; but here they seeke to make that which is ordinary and without exception in the word of God to passe for a priviledge. 9 In this also doe they much forget themselues, that they wil here bring in privileges, where the matter concerneth the Iustice of God, which [saith these men] after the pardon of the fault, will neverthelesse haue vs to satisfie for the paine. If then Gods iustice hath suffered one man to enter into Paradise without any satis­factory paine for his sinnes, why should it not suffer two? If two why not ten? If ten whie not a hundred or a thou­sand, and so forth infinite.

[Page 90]Our Reverend writers of fires, fur­naises and torrents doe giue way to the maine body of these reasons as being to great, too strong, and too close set to­gether, and having hidden themselues, doe afterward make semblance to ap­peare,Pag. 68, but farre enough of. The auctor of the fire of Helie, no griefe to his per­son, hath made vs a little merry, for sup­posing that hee hath found some newe matter to make this privilege currant saith that the blood of Iesus Christ which they boiled and sprang vpon the thiefe, carried him immediatly into e­ternall felicitie. Where found he this? Did the blood of Iesus Christ spring forth but on one side, and so the evi [...] thiefe through disgrace could obtain [...] no aspersion of it? Or how could a few drops of blood, moistning the outward parts of the body bring forth so whol [...] some an effect? Considering that in the Masse they hold that the wicked do receaue all Iesus Christ inwardly, and y [...] are never the better, nor more happy [Page 91] But now I remember where he found this fable: hee remembred that blessed S. Longin, who pierced the side of Iesus Christ and so recovered his sight for of that speare the Church of Rome hath made a speareman, and of that speere­man a Saint. And why not? sith that of Deucalion & Pirrhaes casting of stones behind them men and women sprang vp? That which he here produceth con­cerning the baptisme of the thiefe on the Crosse is already confuted in the first Chapter: and this man maketh the heathen Executioners to be baptizers of Christians.

By all this it doth appeare that togi­ther with this thiefe, Purgatory was crucified: for I am ashamed to produce the argument of these Doctors, who doe make even this thiefe an advocate for Purgatorie.The sire of Helie p. 67 For (say they) he craved suc­cours, not in this life, for death was even betweene his iawes already: but after his death: he therfore beleeved that after death the soules stood in need of succours. Here­to [Page 92] doe we answer that he craved indeed no succour for this life, neither for af­ter this death: but even for the death it selfe, and for the departure of his soule, which Iesus Christ entring into Para­dice, tooke and brought with him into the coelestiall glory. But who can here forbeare laughing at this Portugall,The bold­nesse of this fire, p. 95. who would haue the worde Paradice here to signifie hell? Or how can he fai [...] of an answer that suffereth himselfe solicētiously to interpret the Scriptures?

9 S. Iohn in his first Epistle chap. 1. saith The blood of Iesus Christ purgeth or cleanseth vs from all sinne. Our sinnes are the spots and vncleanesse of our soules, and there be no other. Iesus Christ pur­geth and taketh them all away (saith S. Iohn) then is there no more to purge so no more Purgatory. For albeit after all our offences pardoned there should yet remaine some paine to be endured for the satisfying of the iustice of God yet could not this punishmēt be called a Purgation, for who did ever here the [Page 93] whip or the gibbet called a Purgation for theft or murder?Pag 69. A stander. The fire of Helie slandering vs answereth and maketh vs to say that it is enough that Iesus Christ satisfied for vs, so as for our parts wee need doe nothing at all. An opinion which we abhorre and leaue to the prophane and Libertines.

Whereas wee say that the punish­ment of a sinne cannot be called a Pur­gation, the frier affirmeth the contrary,Pag 97. saying that it is never called otherwise: and to that end he alleageth many pla­ces wherin he pretēdeth that to purge signifieth to punish and chastise. Passa­ges which I am even ashamed to con­fute. The first maketh cleane against him: all the rest are false. The Apostle to the Hebrewes, chap. 1.3. saith Iesus Christ hath by himselfe purged our sinnes. In this place [if we beleeue him] purga­tion signifieth punishment: whervpon it must follow that Jesus Christ hath made the punishment for our sinnes, whereas he did only beare it. Moreo­ver [Page 94] sith this punishment and passion of Iesus Christ was the cause of the purgation of our sinnes, it is not the purgati­on it selfe. And indeed himselfe [though falsely] maketh Ieremie to say,Falsehood Ierem. 11. The cha­stisements serue to purge vs: Then is the chastisement one thing and the purga­tion an other: for the end of a matter is divers from the meanes to attaine ther­to. Now follow two places out of Ec­clesiasticus the 7.Two false­hood. Purge thy selfe by thine owne arme: & purge thee of thy negligēce. That is to say (saith the Moncke) Cha­stise thy selfe. Let vs overpasse the follie of this explication: for both the places are falsely alleadged. And in the Gteek which is the Original of this booke we finde no one word of all this: neither in any of the translations but the Roman: with the like falshood haue they allead­ged out of the 47. chapter of the same booke ver. 11. these words: Christ purged his sinnes. But in the Greeke it is, The Lord hath taken away his sinnes. The same likewise is false that they alleadge out [Page 95] of the third of Malac. Falsehood. The Lord shal purge the sonnes of Levy. For endevouring to perswade that to purge signifieth to punish, he hath suppressed the words fol­lowing, which do proue that to purge, in that place signifieth to purifie, after the manner as they purge mettals. The whole place is this. He shall even fine the sonnes of Levy and purifie them as gold & silver. He here speaketh of purifying & cleansing the hearts by the efficacie of the spirit of God, as saith S. Peter, Act. 15. God purifieth the harts by faith.

After so many falsifications our Monke triumpheth and croweth like a cocke on his owne dunghil saying that we be the spirits of Satan, beasts and in his iudgement fooles: Let this passe, for it is the priviledge of that Robe: & this Monke is like his wallet that hath no­thing but belly and throat.

He therfore runneth on his course, and would faine proue that a torment may iustly be called a Purgatory or pur­gation: These be his words. Is not the [Page 96] Medicine an afflictiō of the patient, which serveth to evacuat his corrupt humors? In some he wil haue the physicke to be a punishment, which we deny, especial­ly considering that in this question of purgatory, we intreat only of punish­ment imposed to satisfie the party of­fended: for who ever tooke physicke to the end thereby to be punished, vnlesse you wil haue Socrates poyson taken for physick? Or who ever tooke phisicke to be a satisfaction for an offence? Let vs glorifie God and acknowledge Gods iudgements vpon his adversaries, who after the losse of their cōsciences, haue lost also al common sense. And this will more manifestly appeare if wee call to minde that here our question concer­neth only that purgation for sinne that is performed in Purgatory. We heare deale only with the purgation of sins past: of a clensing of vncleanenesse that doth no longer remaine: as wel because the souls that doe roast in this imagina­rie fire are already righteous and do sin [Page 97] no more, as because the sinnes that are purged in this fire were heretofore cō ­mitted: whereof do ensue two evident absurdities: The one that this serveth to purge the vncleanenesse that is not, and to purifie the souls already pure & free from sinne: the other, that the fire doth grosly mistake in the examples & passages afore alleadged, which speake of the purging of such vncleannesses as are still remaining in effect: for everie physicall medicine serveth to purge the humors offending, that actually are in the body. And God saith that hee will purge the sonnes of Levy as men purge gold, that is, from those vncleannesses that in effect are, not from those that are taken away. Thus is this marchan­dise blowne vp, & this purgatiō grown ridiculous: & that doth more manifest­ly appeare by the extravagant forme of the Monks speech, where he saith: That the paines doe serue to purge vs from those obligations of sin whereto it left vs subiect: for yet was there never man [Page 98] that had his iudgement so farre out of ioint, as to say that he purgeth himselfe of an obligation when hee dischargeth all that he was bound vnto. But to mō ­strous divinity wee must vse monstrous tearmes. They therfore that reap most profit by this purgatory, may do wisely to seek it out some other name: because herein we find nothing to be purged.

10 Saint Paul saith, Rom. 3.24. that we are FREELY iustified by the redemptiō that is in Iesus Christ: If it be FREELY then do we pay nothing. The same A­postle, Colloss. 2.13. saith God hath forgi­ven or remitted all our trespasses: In the Greeke it is [...], Gratis largitus est he pardoned freely: for so much the word importeth. The same Apostle al­so in the second to the Corinthians, 2.10. vsing the same word, saith, that hee pardoned the incestuous, to whom he im­posed no satisfactorie paine after the pardon. He saith moreover All our of­fences that wee may knowe that God doth not pardon to halfes. All our of­fences [Page 99] thus taken away and pardoned, the satisfactory punishment is also ta­ken away: for there cānot be any such punishmēt but in regard of the offence and the cause, which is the offence, that only produced this effect, being taken away, this effect is also takē away. Here vnto also compare the saying of our adversaries: that in Purgatory veniall sinnes are remitted: for if this be true, then S. Paule abused the Colossians in tel­ling them that al their offences were remitted. Againe is this any remission of sins, to punish thē in a fire? The frier in liew of answering, setteth downe some principles, but so strange as the very propounding of them may serue for a sufficient Confutation. God, saith he, pardoneth vs freely, but there resteth an ob­ligation to his iustice, which must of neces­sity be satisfied. As if he should haue said, God doth pardon and acquit vs freely, yet not freely, be cause we are not ac­quitted of the Obligation to the paine, but that we must satisfie the same. This [Page 100] is even the like: God, saith he, doth free­ly pardon our offences, but yet he dis­chargeth vs not of the Obligation to satisfie to his iustice: Could he more e­vidently contradict himselfe? Conside­ring that to pardon a criminall person. is no more but to free him frō the pain wher to by the iustice of the Law hee standeth bound? Thus the auctor of the fire of Helie saith, That God forgiveth al our debts, yet, saith he, with some cō ­tribution of our parts. Now if that which we contribute be holdē for pay­ment and satisfaction, as our Doctors would haue it, who perceiveth not that God acquitteth vs not of all our debts? Thus doth the spirit of Contradiction confound it selfe. But what need so many by waies, when they might cut it cleane of & franckly say that God doth not acquit vs freely. As indeed the Fri­er in many places saith as much: in his 99, page in these words. God pardoneth the sinne, howbeit for the satisfaction of his iustice, he appointeth the chastisement: The [Page 101] [...]ing pardoneth a gentleman for some mur [...]er committed, yet cōdemneth him in great [...]ines. Sith then the pardon, wherby the capitall paine is converted into pecuni­ [...]ry, and so is no full pardon, but a dimi­nution of pain, it manifestly appeareth that our adversaries doe hold that the pardon which God graunteth vs is no full or free pardon. Hereto come their words. That God doth freely remit the fault but not the pain: the eternal pain, but not the temporal: for he that freely forgiveth his debtour the one part of his debt, but not all, cannot be said free­ly to giue or acquite the whole debt. Neither can the pardon be said to be ful when there is a necessity imposed vp­on the debtor to pay or suffer punish­ment for the sinne, be it in the whole, or in a part.

11 Herein also appeareth the fol­ly of their distinctiō between the fault and the paine. The Frier saith,Pag. 75. that the sin bringeth with it two things, A faul [...] and a paine. Had this good man beene [Page 102] perfect in his natural language, the absurdity of his principle had been apparant: for the word Culpa, or fault in his language signifieth sinne; witnesse the Priests words whē in his Masse lie bea­teth his brest and saith, Mea culpa, it is my sin: also Iacobs wordes to Laban for what sinne of mine? Gen. 13.36 What fault haue I com­mitted? And the like throughout all the holy scripture. Now let the reader iudg [...] whether the fryer had dined when hee writ or no; when he saith that sin brin­geth with it the fault, that is to say sin.

The examination of the distin­ction be­tween pain and fault.Vpon this worthy distinction be­tweene the paine and the fault is Pur­gatory grounded: and this pinne once pluckt out the whole frame falleth out of ioint. They say then that God doth indeed acquit vs of all the fault, but not of al the paine. A saying not only vniust but even incompatible.

1 The vniustnesse hereof is evidēt: for no man is iustly punished but for his fault: and the fault taken away the offender is no longer guilty: and being [Page 103] no longer guilty, he cannot iustly bee punished. These Doctors therefore do blemish & dry vp the righteousnesse of God.

2 The Incompatibility hereof is likewise manifest, In that they say God doth forgiue vs all our offences: yet pu­nisheth them in a burning fire: both to pardon and yet to punish one selfe of­fence, are matters incompatible. And when we forgiue our neighbour all his offences against vs we vse not to say, I forgiue thee the fault, yet wil I punish thee: or I acquit thee of thy debt, yet shalt thou pay me. But as saith Tertulli­an in his fifth booke of baptisme, Exemp to reatu, eximitur poena.

3 Againe sith our sinnes be debtes to the Iustice of God, as Iesus Christ witnesseth where he teacheth vs to say Forgiue vs our debts, of which debts the payment was paine & satisfaction, shal we not sin even against common sense, if we affirme that God forgiveth al the debt, but not all the payment? Thus do [...] [Page 104] our Masters shadow vs forth Chime­raes and monsters in the aire.

4 Let vs proceed. How is it possi­ble that by the death of Iesus Christ we should be purged, quit, and delivered from all our trespasses, but not from the punishment due to our trespasses Considering that he did not otherwise beare our sins and offences, but by bea­ring the paine due to them: & if he did beare the paine, did he not beare it to the end to discharge vs from it? Si tulit, abstulit. He hath borne our infirmities & carryed our sorrowes, saith Esay 53.4. To what end? Even to discharge vs from them. And this is it that S. Austin saith in his 37 sermon vpon the words of the Lord. Iesus Christ taking vpon him the punishment but not the sinne, hath abolished both the sinne and the punishment.

5 Throughout all this discourse this is to be noted, that all our speech concerneth such paines as are paimēts, redemptions and satisfactions to the iustice of God: for these our Doctours [Page] do tearme Purgatory a paymēt & satis­faction to the Iustice of God: These be the punishments which we say to be in compatible with a full pardon. There is an other kinde of punishment which is tearmed castigatory, and this is inflicted for amendment of the sinner, and hath great affinity with the full pardon: for God doth chastise his children, even af­ter he hath pardoned them. Such cha­stisements are not payments and satis­factions to content the Iustice of God, but fatherly corrections to bring the sinner to amendment. They are not ex­ecutions of his iustice, but testimonies of his fatherly loue & care: not woūds but salues: and these can in no wise con­curre with the tormenrs of Purgatory, wherein it is said that the soules are al­ready iust and can amend no more. As therefore we vse to strike a man fallen into an Apoplexy, not to get any satis­factiō at his hands, but to awaken him: so God smiteth his children, when they sleep in their sinnes, to make them feel [Page 106] their negligence. He that otherwise in­terpreteth the afflictions that God sen­deth and taketh them not for correcti­ons, health some to his soule, but for sa­tisfactions necessary to the iustice of God, he maketh his afflictions bitter, & dippeth their edges in gall, taking from them the spirituall consolations, glory and ioy, that supporteth the children of God in this combat. Necessitie is a mi­serable consolation, It hardneth the sore, but healeth it not: It raiseth the courage against the paine, but asswa­geth it not. For what mitigation is it to the afflicted to tell him that his sore is past cure: and that of necessitie hee must satisfie the iustice of God? Or how could S. Paule haue so boasted of his tri­bulations, had hee beleeued they had beene payments which God did exact of him for his sinnes? This doctrine be­ing so healthfull, so full of consolation, and so evidently laid downe in the ho­ly Scripture, namely that God chasti­seth vs for our amendment, yet this fri­er [Page 107] Minor with a desperate presumptiō dareth avouch it to be a reason forged in our owne braine without the word of God, without autoritie,Pag. 78. and without reason. Herevpon therefore let vs heare the word of God herein. The Apostle to the Hebrews, cap. 12. saith, God chast­neth vs for our profit, to the end we may be partakers of his holinesse. Againe, Disci­pline bringeth the quiet fruit of righteous­nesse to those that are exercised therein. How often doth God say that he chast­neth those whom he loveth.Apoc. 3.19 Heb. 12.6. Iob 5.17. Prov. 3.11. David in the 119. Psalme confesseth that before he was afflicted he went a stray, but af­ter his afflictions he kept the comman­dements of God. And againe, It is good for mee that I haue beene afflicted, that I may learne thy Statuts. 2. Chro. 33 Was not Manas­ses for his conversion endebted to his captivitie? And are not we for Davids Psalmes endebted to Saul and Absalon? For the building of the Church of God in our daies, are not we endebted to the Martyrdome and torments that our fa­thers [Page 108] endured for the Gospell? By the word of God and experience we finde other ends of our afflictions then satis­faction and redemption to the iustice of God. Therefore saith Chrysostome in his Homely of confession & pennance, that God punisheth vs not for the sinnes past, Non exigens supplicium de peccatis sed ad futura nos corrigens but correcteth vs for that that is to come. Here doe our adversaries rouse themselues and seeke all meanes to vn­derprop their so ruinous a cause, and to perswade that to pardon a sinne, & yet to punish it with satisfactory paines: to acquit a debt and yet to make the deb­ter pay it are things compatible, & such as doe well agree. This doth the Frier proue by a Theologicall reason. Among all the workes of God [saith he] doe e­qually shine his mercy and his iustice: a propositiō that beareth many excep­tions.Pag. 75. As in the punishment of Divels, we find soveraign iustice without mer­cy. And God doth often minister the one without the other, as himself saith in the Epistle of S. Iames, cap. 2. There [Page 109] shall be iudgement mercilesse to him that sheweth no mercy. Only in the worke of redemption is this proposition true: his mind is, that in the Iustification of a sinner Gods mercy should be displaied in conferring vnto him the first grace and remission of eternall paines. And to giue some way to his iustice, he will haue it to take some satisfaction of the sinner by punishing him with tempo­rall paines as well in this life as in Pur­gatory. Wherein I beseech the Reader to consider the nature of the vntruth, which consisteth in wrangling and iar­ring with his owne principles. The fri­er said that among al the works of God his mercy & his iustice did shine equal­ly: but here he maketh them altogether vnequall: In that mercy revealeth her selfe in pardoning an infinite paine, but iustice sheweth herselfe in making thē suffer temporall punishments, which neverthelesse may be abridged and re­deemed by some fasts, and slight offe­rings made by the survivers for the [Page 110] dead. Was it meete to seeke place for the iustice of God where wee might a­base it so low, and dishonor it in paying it in such base coine and clipped mony [...] Even this might serue for an evident and most mightie testimony to the truth, if wee proue that according to our beliefe, gathered out of the word of God, the Iustice of God and his mer­cy doe equally shine in the worke of our redemption & are likewise infinit. For God hath shewed himselfe infinit­ly iust in accepting at the hands of our pledge and redeemer Iesus Christ a suf­ficient price for all our offences: also in­finitly mercifull, in allowing to vs this payment, as made in our name. His wis­dome hath vnited things which other­wise seemed hardly to agree: having found a meanes to punish all our sins, and withall to forgiue them all, by gi­ving to vs his son, the obiect of his iu­stice, for an argument and matter of his mercy. But to pardon a man all his sins and yet to make the same man to beare [Page 111] one part of the deserved punishment for satisfactiō for the same, are matters contradictory. The fire of Helie spea­keth no better to the purpose. Adam [saith he] had pardon for his sinne, and yet both he and his posterity haue incurred ma­ny calamities. 1. Hereto we do answere, that to no ende hee here commeth in with the paines and sorrowes that are cōmon to all men, sith that in this place wee deale only with punishments pro­per to the children of God. 2. He decei­veth himselfe in thinking that the evils and paines for al men are punishments for the sinne of Adam. For they are pu­nishmēts because men do persist in the sin of Adam. God never punisheth one man for another mans sin. The child shall not beare the iniquity of his father, saith E­zechiell. 18.20. True it is that so manie Calamities had never befallen mākind, had not Adam sinned: but yet this stā ­deth ever firme, That God never punish­eth any before they haue throughly deser­ved it. 3. He presupposeth that which is [Page 112] false and yet in question: namely that the paines whereto the faithful be sub­iected by the sin of Adam, be satisfacti­ons, payments and redemptions to the Iustice of God. For of this kinde of paines do we now entreat, because they make Purgatory to be of this nature. We say then that al these evils, labours, diseases, yea even death it selfe, do alter their nature in the faithfull: and of evils become medicines. Of satisfactorie pains they are made healthsome exerci­ses to the soule: God by the wounds of the body healeth the woundes of the soule: even in like manner as a triakle composed of venimous Ingrediences, yet tempered by a skilfull Physition be­commeth a very healthsome preserva­tiue. The like do we say of the death of the faithfull. It resembleth the passage over the red sea, where Gods enemies are swallowed vp: but his children doe finde way to the promised inheritance. Farthermore if it be a punishment to satisfie the iustice of God wherfore do [Page 113] the faithful expect it with Ioie, and in their desires even hasten the comming of it, as did the Apostle S. Paule. Phil. 1.13.

Besides these reasons they alleadge many examples as of Mary, Moses, Da­vid who were punished after their of­fences were forgiven. Namely David whose example they do vrge: 2. Sam. 12. Where God having forgiven him his sinne, said neverthelesse vnto him, The sword shall not depart from thy house, be­cause thou hast despised me. Againe, Be­cause thou hast given the Lordes enemies cause to blaspheme his name, thy childe shall die. There is not say they, to the end thou shouldest not cause to blaspheme. Likewise in the 7. of Micheas: I will beare the wrath of the Lorde, because I haue sinned against him: wherein their iudgement fayleth them: for they labour to proue that which we do grant. Who denieth but that the sins of the faithfull are the effi­cient causes of the chastisementes that God layeth vpon them? And that they [Page 114] fall vpon them because they haue sin­ned? But our controversie dependeth not vpon the efficient cause but vpō the finall. They say that it is to the end that Gods iustice may be satisfied by the pu­nishment of the sinne: we say that it is to the end A sinner may amend. They will haue it. That God punisheth as a iust iudge: we that he punisheth vs as a loving father: not to exercise his Iu­stice, but correct our vnrighteousnesse: for as for the satisfaction due to his Iu­stice, the merits of Jesus Christ are a sufficient satisfaction. The father that punisheth his children to take satisfaction, putteth of his naturall affections & correcteth them, not for their amend­ment, but to satisfie his owne content. Now if this bee an Inhumane iustice in a father, what shall wee thinke of our heavenly father who is bounty it selfe? And who in his worde assureth vs that albeit the mother shoulde forsake the fruit of her wombe, yet will hee never forsake vs? Never shall wee serue God [Page 115] with a filial obedience, vnlesse we bee fully perswaded of his fatherly loue to­ward vs. The Fryer alleadgeth yet two examples more,Pag. 76. yet both false accor­ding to his custome. The one in the 14. of Numbers, where God having forgi­ven his people their sin, doth neverthe­lesse depriue them from entring into the land of promise: for by the 4. of the Apostle to the Hebrewes it appeareth that euen they that were excluded frō the land of promise, were also shut out out of the caelestiall rest. The pardon therefore that God graunted, was only the grant of Moses petition, who desi­red God that he would not vtterly root out the people of Israell. But heare we are not in hand with any such kinde of pardō. In an other place he produceth the example of Baptisme and saith in Baptisme God pardoneth Original sin, but not the paines thereof, as subiecti­on to death, the fire of concupiscence, with other calamities. Concerning the death of the faithfull we haue spoken [Page 116] before and proved that it is no calami­ty vnto them,Pag. 100. The Counsell of Trent Ses. 5. saith that Paul calleth cōcupiscence a sinne, but it is no sinne neither any satisfaction to the Iustice of God. And as for the fire of concupiscence, the frier is mista­ken, in bringing that for an example of the punishment for sin, which in it selfe is a sinne and in the law forbidden.

This maine thus overthrown which made the body and principal of our ad­versaries reasons, let vs now thrust for­ward and yeelde the truth an absolute victorie.

12 God commanding vs to pray that he would forgiue vs our trespasses, as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs, sheweth that wee are to attend from him forgiuenesse in like manner as hee willeth vs to forgiue our neighbours, that is to say, without revenging our selues, or taking any satisfaction or a­mends in all or in part. After therefore that hee hath forgiven vs all our offen­ces, as S. Paule witnesseth, shall hee yet draw one payment out of so tedious & burning a fire?

[Page 117]13 Farther yet to vrge this matter presupposing that there is a purgatory, I demand whether Iesus Christ doth in heaven intercede for the soules there tormented,Rom. 8.27. and pray for their delive­rance: for S. Paul teacheth vs that Iesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of God ma­king intercession for vs. Dare they say that he intercedeth no more for those souls, and that in their behalfes he hath given over the office of a mediatour? But if he pray for them, no doubt but God heareth him,Iohn. 11.22 and so they come forth at his intercession: to what ende then do now serue those offerings and suffrages of the liuing, with the Popes Indulgences, but to that which Iesus Christ hath already done?

14 Againe sith the death of Iesus Christ is sufficient to redeeme vs, even out of Purgatory, why may it not serue to that vse? Iesus Christ hauing paid all the paine and penaltie that we did owe will not God receaue this payment & ransome for so much as it is worth? [Page 118] God who saved vs when wee were his enemies, envieth not our good, neither abateth any part of the price of the death of his sonne neither will hee e­ver permit that Iesus Christ hauing paid enough wholly to satisfie his iu­stice and to exempt vs from Purgatory, that in this case the benefit of his sonne should be shortned vnto vs. Also the Apostle to the Hebrewes, cap. 7. v. 15. saith, He is able perfectly to saue them that come to God by him, seeing hee ever liveth to make intercession for them. If hee then can perfectly saue vs, why will hee not doe it? and being able fully to acquit vs towards God, shall his power to doe it be greater then his willingnesse? Can he be content to see his brethren, his members, his spouse for one sinne tor­mented seaven yeares in a fire like to that of hell? To such forcible reasons my adversaries doe answer very coldly, or rather not at all. For they answere themselues, not my obiections: They labour to shew how our satisfactions [Page 119] and the paines of their Purgatory may no way derogatfrō the merits of Iesus Christ: but they answer nothing to my demand; what the reason is that Iesus Christ hauing paid enough wholly to satisfie the Iustice of God & to exempt vs from Purgatory, they will not suffer that his benefite should stead vs so much? Yet doe we shew them that they doe not only fly, but also in flying doe blaspheame, blemish the brightnesse, and curtal the perfection of the merits and satisfaction of Iesus Christ.

Then say they that the merit of Ie­sus Christ is indeed sufficient: but it must be applied vnto vs, and that can­not be but by meanes: then among o­ther meanes they come in with our sa­tisfactions and paines, and the tormēts of Purgatory. 1. Hereto wee say,Rom. 10.17 1. Cor 10. Gal. 3.27. Ephes. 3.17 that it belongeth to the word of God and not to them to prescribe vnto vs the means to enioy the benefit of Iesus Christ: and the meanes that that doth set vs down is faith, the word, and the sacraments: but [Page 120] but in no wise any roasting of souls, of any fire after this life. 2. Next let any man of vnderstanding bee iudge whe­ther the meanes to enioy the benefit of Iesus Christ, ought to bee contrary to the benefit it selfe: The meanes of ta­king profit by physicke consisteth not in taking of poison: The meanes to en­ioy the light of the sunne resteth not in shutting vp the windows of the house or the windowes of the body, that is the eies. Sith therefore that the benefit of Iesus Christ and his satisfaction is the soveraigne pledge of the mercy o [...] God: what likelihood is there that the meanes to enioy it can consist in the execution of the iustice of God? An [...] sith the satisfaction of Iesus Christ i [...] our acquittance towards God: what appearance is there that the meanes to at­taine to it, can rest in forcing vs to pay, and tormenting vs in a fire some hun­dreds or thousands of yeares? Wee are not to omit that the meanes to apprehend the grace offered vnto vs in Iesu [...] [Page 121] Christ ought to be actiue and tending to the enioying thereof, and not a pas­sion or torment. 4. That the meanes to apply to our selues, or to apprehend a thing ought to be of another kind then the thing apprehended or applied: as we cannot apply one medicine by ano­ther; one plaister by another: or the sa­tisfaction of Iesus Christ by any other satisfaction. To all this our adversaries haue not a word, and doe as meanely acquit themselues as before they did li­centiously triumph.

Thus do these bellowes of the fire of Purgatory, these his holynesse factors, chatter about the benefit of Iesus Christ with craft and subtilty, and plea­santly seeke to colour their fact, and sweenten the superficies with poyson: for at the shutting vp of all they doe a­base and bring to naught the benefit of Iesus Christ. And indeede in the fire of Helie it is said that this principle That Iesus Christ hath wholy satisfied, The fire of Helie, p. 75 maketh men carelesse. They also affirme that [Page 122] man can satisfie God Ex Condigno that is to say,Dem. Soto disp. 2. quest. 2. Art. 3. in 4 sententia­rum, Nauar. Notab. 22. Num. 10. de Iubileo. by equipollēt satisfactions, & that not for themselues only, but also for others: as diverse of them do teach. Bellarmine hee goeth farther: for in his first book of Purgatory, cap. 10. he saith that men are their owne redeemers, & do themselues redeeme their sins. Yea he proceedeth so farre that he will ac­knowledge no other actuall or reall sa­tisfactions but our owne: for he houl­deth that the satisfactiō of Iesus Christ serveth only to make ours of force: and therefore S. Paule tolde vs an vntruth when he said that Iesus Christ gaue him­selfe a ransome for vs; 1. Tim. 2. for he maketh vs only to pay the ransome, and giveth price and waight to our satisfactions. But these principles doe we deny & de­test, as newe Articles of faith forged without any testimony of the word of God, as the Crosse of the crosse of Ie­sus Christ, and an alter built out of the ruines of the gospell wherevpon to e­rect and advance humane satisfactions. [Page 123] Man cannot attribute to himselfe anie part of his rāsom, neither share out this glory between Iesus Christ & the sin­ner without blemishing of Iesus Christ, plucking him from his crosse and trea­ding vnder foot the blood of the cove­nant, the only price of our redemptiō. There is no salvation in any other, saith S. Peter. And Hebrews 10. With one offering hath he for ever consecrated them that are sanctified. Againe, We haue one God and one mediatour betweene God & mā, which is the man Iesus Christ who gaue himselfe a ransome for vs, saith S. Paul. 1. Tim. 2.5.6. howe then dare our adversaries say that sinfull man is a redeemer of him­selfe:Bellar. lib. 1. Indulg. c. 4. or that the saints by their supera­bundant satisfactions are by any means our Redeemers, as Bellarmine saith? Our enemies doe yet bring vs one plaister more to lay vpon the wound that they haue made in the benefit of Iesus Christ. But it is a plaister without oint­ment, besides they lay it besides the wound. They say that the vertue of our [Page 124] satisfactions [whereof Purgatorie is one] doth depend vpon the satisfactiōs of Jesus Christ. It is he that maketh our torments to be of any valew: it is the grace and mercy of God that ma­keth vs to satisfie: what shall we say to this? Or rather what shal we not say? for the mockery togither with the absurdi­tie is to evident. They say that Jesus Christ giveth vs power to pay a debt, which himselfe hath already paid to the full, and to satisfie for that which is al­ready acquited: who cā without laugh­ing imagine, or rather who would not spite that a surety, who hath set a priso­ner at liberty by paying his debt for him, should after make him pay to the same creditor the same debt that him hath already paid: yea & which is more: that the same second payment shoulde be accompted a grace and favour? who could ever haue thought that the pains and torments of Purgatory had beene counted among the graces of Iesus Christ? But say they, it is a grace to giue [Page 125] power to the creature to satisfie of him selfe that is to say, to beare the punish­ment of his owne sin. Let vs learne; for this is a new kind of beneficence, A cri­minall person shal hereafter commend the bounty of his iudge, who after hee hath freely forgiven him, shall of his grace and superabundant mercy, cause him to bee whipped about the towne, and to pay excessiue amends, that so he may haue the honor to satisfie for him­selfe. Now if Purgatory bee a grace of God, why doth the Pope come with his Indulgences, vniustly officious, to dimi­nish this grace? Againe, if it be a favour or a grace that God granteth to the cre­ature to satisfie for himselfe, the dam­ned shall be his favorites, whom he will make to pay to the full. Doe we nowe dispute with men? You seraphicall do­ctors, your much knowledge maketh you madde. S. Iohn Baptist said that of stones God could raise vp children vnto Abraham: but these men wil bring the children of Abraham to be stones, in­sensible [Page 126] and brutish.The false­hood of the frier, p. 79. Thus do these our Masters abuse our simplicity. To fill vp the whole measure of abuse, the Fryer to this purpose citeth a passage out of the 52. of Esay, saying. I will praise thee O Lord for thou art displeased with me. Let all the iniuries that they lay vpon me be true if throughout the whole chapter there be one word to that purpose: but with him such falshoode is ordinary. Yea and were this place true, yet ma­keth it nothing against vs, who confesse that God is to be praised and lauded for his chastisements, wherewith he corre­cteth and amendeth vs. But what cor­respondēce hath this with Purgatory, where none can amend? And so let this bee spoken in answere to all other like passages.

This is the question whervpon him selfe doth in some sort make me an ho­norable amends. For in our conference having often said and stiffe and sto [...]tlie affirmed that Iesus Christ had not satis­fied, but for so much as we were not a­ble [Page 127] to satisfie; for now he denieth it and so seemeth as if he would entreat Iesus Christ more favorably; wherein in sun­dry sorts he wrongeth himselfe: for first he sheweth to those that haue been his assistants and are not altogither forget full, that corrupt meaning is with him turned to a habitude; and even growne into a complexion. Then disadvow­ing this principle he contradicteth the auctor of the fire of Helie, who maine­taineth it and himselfe also: for in an o­ther place he speaketh the same thing almost in the same tearmes. The fire of Helie page 69. saith thus.This which he addeth is a slander for wee say not so. Bellarm. de Purgat. lib. 1. cap. 10. pag. 78. If Iesus Christ hath satisfied for all the faults and punish­ments, [so as for our parts there is no more to do] why then after the offence rem [...]ted do we endure so much evill? And this he speaketh from Bellarmine. Si Christus satisfie it pro omni [...]ulpa, cur post remissam culpam tam multa mala patimur? The Frier also saith, That for that part for the which we can satisfie the divine Iu­stice, our Lord hath not otherwise sa­tisfied [Page 128] but in applyed to vs his merites, by the which our satisfactions doe sup­ply that temporall paine: but he giveth vs power to satisfie: and to giue a man power to beare the deserued punish­ment, and to make the satisfaction to be of force, implyeth not to satisfie or to be punished for him. But the Friers memory faileth him: much more his respect to the word of God, in that he endevoureth to frame vs new articles of faith, yea which is more, even in that that is of greatest importance, and is as it were the soule and principall part of Religion, without any auctority of the holy scriptures: saying that Iesus Christ did not otherwise satisfie for temporal punishment, that is Purgatory, but by applying to vs his merits, whereby wee do satisfie.

Thus much for the agreement of Purgatory and mans satisfactions with the merits of Iesus Christ: from which argument before I depart I cannot for­beare but must of necessity propounde [Page 129] one excellent note that Cardinal Bellar­mine setteth downe in his booke De poe­nitentia where he laboureth to shewe that the sinnes committed before bap­tisme are redeemed by the blood of Ie­sus Christ without our satisfactions:Bellarm. de poenitent. lib 4. cap. 10. but the sinnes after baptisme are redee­med by our owne satisfactions. He saith, that S. Iohn the Evangelist instru­cting a yong man, who after baptisme had committed many Ryots, he exhor­ted him to fasting and to praier, as saith Eusebius. And herevpon the Cardinall setteth downe this note.Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 17 Iohannes non id precepit quod luther anisolent, vt Chri­sti sanguine peccata sua purgata esse certò crederet, sed preces & Ieiunia indixit: that is, S. Iohn commanded him not that which the Lutherans doe vse to command: that is, that hee should certainely beleeue that his sinnes were purged by the blood of Iesus Christ: but he enioyned him to fasting and praier. In this regard then are wee called Lutherans and Heretickes. Thus also shall the Apostle himselfe be foūd [Page 130] a Lutheran and worthy the Inquisitiō, because he saith,1. Ioh. 1.7. The blood of Iesus Christ purgeth vs from all sinnes: for he writ to the faithful and to the baptized, and to those whom hee calleth his children. These our Masters matters thus disco­vered, and themselues convict of pro­phaning the merits of Iesus Christ: to be revēged they vse this recrimination. The Frier saith that We doe so assure the soules in this blood, Pag. 91. A slander, that the only remem­brance of baptisme once received, is a re­medy against all sinne, without need of any other matter. A slander forged in the shop of the father of Lyes▪ as is also the same which the fire of Helie char­geth vs withall: namely that It is enough that Iesus Christ suffered, 62. A slander. and so for our parts we need do nothing: and herevpon they heap vp many passages & proofes for the necessity of pennance and good works: but all in vaine, considering wee beleeue nothing of that they accuse vs of, but do affirme that the only way to life is to obey the commandements of [Page 131] God: It is necessary that we heare his word, and obey him: that we repent vs of our sinnes and convert vnto God: That we subdue the flesh, and quench the heate of the concupiscence therof: that we suffer with Iesus Christ and for Iesus Christ, to the end we may be glo­rified with Iesus Christ. For albeit our paines and good workes bee no suffici­ent price to purchase salvation, yet are they necessary for the attaining there­to. In that we extoll the excellencie of the satisfaction of Iesus Christ, we doe it not to make vs negligent, in good workes: but to invite and stirre vs vp to loue God and to acknowledge his gra­ces: God is not good to vs to the end we should be wicked to him. His benefits are to vs as bonds. Iesus Christ is vnto vs not only matter to hope well, but al­so a rule to liue well. If he haue bought vs, it is to the end we should be his, and how his by seruing the divell? The pas­call Lambe must be all eaten, for Iesus Christ cannot bee divided: wee cannot [Page 132] participate in the fruit of his death if we be not made conformable to his re­surrection by newnesse of life: neither can we enioy his promises vnlesse wee keepe his commandements. And there fore saith David, Psal. 130. There is forgiuenesse with thee that thou maist be feared. There by shewing vs that the mercy of God towards vs must be by vs accompanied with his feare. According to this Fran­ciscans doctrin David should haue said There is no full forgiuenesse with thee that thou maist be feared. He thē that of Gods mercy shall make an exemption from wel doing, or shal put of his amendmēt from day today, thinking that it is not yet time to become an honest man, wil find himselfe deceaved: for repentance is a guift of God which hee giueth not to scorners: And ordinarily such as seek to reserue to God the last part of their daies and as it were the lees and dreggs of their liues are surprised by death be­fore they attaine thereto: as being a matter iust and equall that they should [Page 133] haue no portion in God, who did so vnequally divide with him.

In the meane time to heare these men dispute of the necessitie of good workes, you would thinke them to bee saints or pettie Gods, and our Church to be a harbour to all wickednesse: and a schoole of excesse: as if sinne were a matter lawfull among vs. Indeed to our great griefe we confesse that wee haue but over many bad examples a­mong vs. We could earnestly wish that as the high Priest disrobed himselfe at the entring into the holy place; so that every of vs could put of his olde sinnes and rellicks of wickednesse at the entry into the Church of God: but the per­versitie of this age together with the contagion and haunt that wee hold with such as be yet out of the Church doe corrupt the manners of many: yet dare I say thus much, that among vs you shall find more examples of chari­tie, of sobrietie, and of diligent reading the word of God then among our ad­versaries: [Page 134] that the pillars of the Church of Rome are more polluted then the pauement of ours: that our spend thrifts are more tollerable then the sobrietie of those that reproue vs: that our vices are evē vertues in regard of the riotous excesse of the Roman Prelats. The murderers of Kings were not of our flocke. Vices and sinnes a­gainst nature haue no place among vs. Trading and Pride haue in the Court of Rome put of the habit of vices and are now accompted for honest carri­age, activitie and ordinary occupation ietting vp and downe in the cloake of of discretion and wisedome.Bern. ser. 33 super Cant. Ministri Christi sunt & serviunt Antichristo. Inde is que vides quoti­die Mere­tricius nitor &c intestina & insanab. est plaga Ecclesiae. Hereof read the complaints of Petrarch in his Epistles and sonnets. The Epigrams of Zanazarus: the complaints of S^t. Ber­nard, who tearmeth the traine of the Court of Rome, the traine of the whore of Babylon and of Antichrist. And after all this must these people with a Romish Catholike zeale, come and preach to vs the necessitie of good [Page 135] workes and complaine that wee open [...]he gate to all vice, Faelicia saecula quaevos [...]oribus opponunt, habeas iam Roma pu­ [...]orem.

But what if we shall proue that the [...]octrine of the Church of Rome is a [...]octrine of Licentiousnesse, and open­ [...]th vnto men a large gate to escape at. [...]ow much people feeling the approch [...]f the Iubile do emboldē thēselues vn­ [...]er the assurance of plenary pardon? [...]hat a gate of licētiousnes do they opē [...]o the rich, who assure thēselus that by [...]iving to the Church after their deaths [...]hey may haue masses enough song for [...]hem and so abridge the paines of Pur­ [...]atory? And doth not the custome of [...]uying other mens praiers make a man [...]egligent in praying for himselfe? Yea [...]nd which is more, by enioining the sin [...]er for his penance to fast and pray do [...]hey not make that a punishmēt which [...]ught to be a consolation? Also when [...]hey make but seaven mortal sinnes, cal [...]ing the rest venial and easie sins, such [Page 136] as may be blotted out with an Aue o [...] a little holy water, do they not enter­taine the sinner in wickednes: and sow cushions vnder his elbowes to lul him the faster a sleepe in his vice? Or terrify­ing the consciences with the feare o [...] Purgatory do they not therby corrupt piety vnder the colour of establishing it? Making it not a filiall and voluntary obedience, but a servile feare? Led o [...] not for the loue of God but for fear o [...] punishment: not for hate to the sin, bu [...] for terror of the torment.Rom. 12. The Apostl [...] exhorteth vs by the mercies of God to consecrate and offer our selues to God yet not for fear of his iustice. Propoū [...] to the sinner the loue and excellenci [...] of the son of God; shewing him that i [...] was our sin that crucified him: that o [...] offences are the very nailes that pie [...] ced him; what is there of greater for [...] to plant in his hart both a loue of Iesu [...] Christ, and a hatred of sin, which wa [...] the cause of the torments of the son o [...] God? Especially when he shal conside [...] [Page 137] that by this death himselfe shal obtaine [...]ife, that from a bondman of Satan, he is bought to bee the sonne of God: also that in beleeving in him he shal not pe­rish, but haue life everlasting. Shal hee not feele himselfe moved to loue God and in acknowledgement of so great a grace to consecrate himselfe to God, and after the rule of his worde to [...]spire to the reward that God hath pitched him at the end of his course? these men therefore by their traficke doe but subvert religion, and in the fire of Pur­gatory, in liew of true piety, forge an [...]dea and fantastical forme of the feare of God.

15 The same fire blasteth and aba­ [...]eth the mercy of God, as not pardo­ [...]ing vs at the full; sith our selues must [...]n a fire beare part of the punishment. Wherefore shall we limit the mercies of God in matters wherein hee will bee pleased and glorified by doing vs good?

16 The iustice of God is likewise [...]iolated therein, in that they make it to [Page 138] exact two payments for one debt. The first which it receaved of Iesus Christ, and was sufficient for all the punish­ments due to our sinnes: what interest therefore haue these people, that they are so willing to enter into this fire a [...] the charge of the glory of God, who [...] could be content freely to pardon th [...] through Iesus Christ?

17 Againe, every payment and satisfaction that is acceptable to Go [...] must be voluntary, and not forced, otherwise he accepteth it not: But th [...] paine of Purgatory [say our people] [...] vnto those, that haue not sufficient [...] satisfied in this life, inevitable: and whether they will or no, they must of nec [...] sitie passe that way. Then is it not a pa [...] ment acceptable with God. And albe [...] these men say that the poore soules d [...] patiently beare those paines, yet c [...] we hardly beleeue but that they had other presently be in Paradice, then to [...] bide a thousand or two thousand yea [...] broiling in a fire.

[Page 139]18 Hereof ariseth another reason, namely that those soules do not satisfie God: but that God rather satisfieth him selfe in punishing them against their wills.

19 By the same doctrine also the consciences are in perpetuall torment through the apprehension of this fire: for what would not we giue to avoid a fire of an houre long? how much more if it should last a moneth? Yet what were this in regard of many hundreds and thousands of yeares: and that in a fire as hot as the fire of of hell, saith our frier?Ioh. 14.27. where is that peace promised by Iesus Christ? or how in our death shall we haue these effects of the spirit of God dwelling in the hearts of the faith­full, namely ioy and peace as saith Saint Paul. Galat. 5.22.

My adversaries doe contradict thē ­selues in their answers, which indeed are no answers but recriminations.Pag. 106. A slaunder The frier saith that we doe preach liberty of conscience, without apprehension of [Page 140] the iudgements of God, which is false and slanderous. Wee preach neither li­bertie nor licentiousnesse, but peace of conscience to such as repent & beleeue in Iesus Christ: but to the impenitent we denounce the iudgements of God. Thus this frier accuseth vs of flattering and lulling mens consciences asleepe: But the fire of Helie contrariwise accu­seth vs of holding them in torment, be­cause we account all sinnes, both mor­tall and veniall, equall. Whereto I an­swer that albeit wee should hold those which they tearme veniall equall with the mortall, yet in as much as we teach, that both mortall and veniall are forgi­ven by Iesus Christ,A slaunder wee doe no whit a­stonish the consciences. But in truth it is a slander of our adversaries. Wee ac­knowledge the inequalitie of sinnes. In some, God is more offended & grie­ved then in other some: yea even amōg the sinnes that they call mortall, some are more hainous then other some. To overskip a leafe or two at mattins, [Page 141] or vnder color of shrift to talke of loue are smaller sins thē to slay his own king. Sacrilege is more hainous then simple theft: Incest then whoredome: only we smile at their folly in distinguishing sins into veniall and mortall, because this word veniall signifieth pardonable. And we knowe that the sinnes which they cal mortall, as murder and whoredome doe growe pardonable in such as doe convert and truly repent, as in David who was defiled in both these sinnes. But in the impenitent these sinnes are indeed mortall and punished with eter­nall death. And so through Impenitē ­cy that sinne which is veniall and par­donable in one, is mortall in another. The parts therefore of this distinction doe iustle and encroch each vpon o­ther: besides I will say thus much more, that it is rashnesse in our adversaries to define that there bee but seuen mortall sinnes: & that all other sinnes be pardo­nable: for it is the office of the iudge, not of the offender to determine what [Page 142] paine each sinne deserueth, for in the sight of God we be all guiltie.

20 Purgatory likewise bringeth with it many inconveniences: for in that it teacheth that the fasts, offerings, and almes deeds of the living doe serue to bring soules out of Purgatory, the same maketh many to bee more negli­gent, & to relie vpon their friends that surviue. Daily examples we haue many of people that buy Masses, & hire men to pray for their soules, whiles in the meane time they take license to prac­tise all excesse, dissolution and rapine. All Doctor Du Valles answer stil resteth in recriminations.Pag. 75. The auctor of the fire of Helie denieth that Iesus Christ hath fully satisfied. He saith that we are they that make men carelesse, in that we teach that Iesus Christ hath fully satisfied, and that on our behalfe there is nothing to satisfie. Hereto I haue before fully an­swered and at large. Yea I doe protest that we hold no such beliefe. Hee far­ther saith that the prayers made for such as are in Purgatory make not men more carelesse, then the same which in [Page 143] this world one maketh for another: whereto we say that it is true, that the prayers of the living, one for another make the sinner to be more negligent, when these prayers are taken for pay­ments, redemptions, and satisfactions. Herevpon the Auctor of the fire of Helie to shaddow his purposes, in liew of speaking of fasts & offerings, speaketh only of prayers, which peradventure he would haue beene ashamed to rec­kon among the redemptions and pay­ments for other mens offences & sins.

21 By this gate also came in the trafficke, and the exchange was opened in the Church. The rich do build obits and anniversaries for their soules: for them are the privat Masses song: the poore must be content with the gene­rall praiers, wherein the rich also haue their shares. Al the Churches shal ring with peales, praiers and diriges after the decease of a man that hath been ex­traordinary liberall and bountifull to the Clergie: but for one that hath giuē [Page 144] nothing ye shal never heare so much as one Masse: neither will the orders of begging Friers presse to a poore mans house. By these means haue the church of Rome heaped togither so much goods that one only hospital (entituled of the Spirit in Rome) may in rents dis­pende foure thousande crownes a day. His holynes keies are of gold: a mettall that openeth both heavē & Purgatory: for this good prelate and his factors & followers are better studyed in the gol­den number, then in the dominicall let­ter, which is the holy scripture. Should a poore beggerly soule participate in those graces which his holinesse hath reserved for the greatest Lords? It were a goodly sight to see some porter or pointmaker or some such base fellow sollicite in the Court of Rome for to purchase buls of delivery of the soule of some poore kinsman of his out of Purgatory, and indeed the booke of rates in the Popes chancery hath sun­dry clauses of this nature: Sed hoc tātum [Page 145] pro qualificatis, Printed at Paris by Toussain Denis in S. Iames street at at the sign of the Crosse. 1520. with priviledge of the court. & istae gratiae non conce­duntur pauperibus. By this reckoning Jesus Christ was deceived when he said Blessed are the poore considering that the rich haue such goodly priviledges & by thē do so soon enter into Paradice. This traficke also doth appeare in this, that the Church of Rōedoth hold that chil­dren dying soone after Baptisme do go straight into Paradice, which notwith­standing, the Priests do not forbeare to take money for their Masses for such children: also in that the Cleargie pay least for the souls of their friends, there by acknowleging the slightnes of their marchandize.Page 76. The Doctor Du Vall con­fesseth there is abuse: so daintyly doth he speake of so horrible and publike ab­homination. The Frier knowing that this traficke, the more it is stirred the more it stincketh, saith nothing at all of it.

23 The same errour maketh God more favourable to those that shal liue in the day of Iudgment then to others, [Page 146] for they shall not come in Purgatorie at all: to the Carmelite Friers then to the Franciscans: for they pretend a pri­viledge to abide there but vnto the next saterday after their deathes: to those that haue meanes and friendes to procure them Masses, then to others. For why should a poore man giue sixe pence to be named in the memento of the Masse, if hee did not hope of some good that he should haue lost if he had not beene therein named? Yet had hee not bin named if he had given nothing: for with thē No peny no paternoster. Let vs also cōsider that by this doctrin such as die immediately after they haue en­ded their Iubile go straight to Paradice and are exempt from Purgatory: but that man, peradventute not so vitious, neither oppressed with so many sinnes, yet dieth before the yeare of Iubile, go­eth into Purgatory and is deprived of so great a benefite: likewise that he that is wel horsed and dwelleth not far from the place where these pardons are to [Page 147] be had, doth much more easily obtaine pardon for his sinnes then he who dwelling three hundred leagues of, hath ne­ver a horse. The same abuse also tyeth the mercy of God to one certain place, as that al sinnes are remitted at the Frā ­ciscans, but not at the Carmelites, or Iacobins. Yea so far doth some pardon stretch that hee that in the Covent of the Franciscans shall say the praiers in the bull ordained, obtaineth plenary pardon for al his sinnes: but though he say ten times more praiers in an other couvent, yea and that with much grea­ter devotiō, yet shal he (al this notwith­standing) obtaine thereby no remission of sinnes. For like a foole he went to seeke remission of his sinnes in places that the Pope had not appointed.

Herevpon the auctor of the fire of Helie taketh vs at the first rebound and saith, You say not well, for mercy hath re­gard to the offence and eternall punishmēt, but iustice hath regard only to the tempo­rall. Wel spoken of this doctor. What? [Page 148] hath not Gods iustice regard likewise to eternall paine?Page 71. And doth he not also shew his mercy in remitting the tem­porall? The same doctor doth also wō ­der that in all these things I can finde a­ny inconveniencie. And willeth vs here vpon in profound silence to adore the impenetrable Iudgements of the Lord. But I doe more marvaile that with me he doth not marvaile that at our hāds he should require adoration with si­lence: where hee should rather come with lamentation and sorrow, yea even with execration. What? shall God en­treat the wicked with more gentlenes? And shall my horse or my mony exēpt me out of a burning fire of many hun­dred yeares continuance? Shall God shew favour to a soule, not after the stedfast faith or burning charitie there­of, but according to the time when it shall depart, whether in the yeare 1599 or in the yeare 1601? And yet we must with silēce adore that which crieth for vengeance before God, and which te­stifieth [Page 149] how farre covetise hath enchroched vpon religion? Shall Romish pol­lutions be given vs for rellickes? blas­phemies for oracles, and the same com­pared with the misteries of God electi­on and healthsome vocation? Indeed if of two wicked ones God will pardon the worst, no man can accuse him, yet surely he will not pardon any such be­fore he giue him repentance and grace to become an honest man: But to say that of two elect and children of God he will in a tedious and hot horrible fire roast him that hath beene the most vertuous, and bring the worst strait into Paradice because hee had money or a horse to carry him to the Iubile, or for that he died soone after the Iubile, it is as much as to spit God in the face, & to paint out prophane toies in his temple for God will iudge every man accor­ding to his workes: not according to his wealth, his horse, or his aboade.

Now, as one absurditie once set downe, a thousand will ensue: so the [Page 150] whole discourse of the doctor vpō this place is even a web of blasphemies. For soone after he saith, The mercy of God is in al places to be found, Pag. 76. but not alike: for in the Temple God giueth better eare to our prayers then elsewhere. Is it for that God is neerer to the Temple: or because in those places God hath his hearing bet­ter?Mat. 6.6. How then doth Iesus Christ coun­sell vs to enter into our closets to pray, if God doth better heare our prayers in a Temple then in a closet? Yet put the case it were so, still the inconvenience that we haue propoūded doth remain. For why should God pardon sinnes in one Temple rather then in another? When throughout the world there was but one Temple where the true God was served, it was no marvail that the faithfull were bound to goe to it: but in the Gospell where doe wee finde that ever God subiected vs to goe to seeke remission of sinnes in a Temple farre of, and to leaue those Churches that bee at hand? Who seeth not that [Page 151] this is done for gaine? because the sum dispearsed in many places, and passing through many hands, would insensibly vanish and weare away, and so could not serue those purposes which the Pope and his Prelats had before set downe. In all the premises it appeareth that the Doctor doth but mocke, and beleeueth nothing of all that hee hath said: neither is this the first tract wherin he discovereth himselfe:Pag. 60. for whereas Beda, Dionise the Charterhouse Monk, Bellarmine and with them Cayer & the fire of Helie do place a floured & sweet field at the end of Purgatory. I asked him how these flowers grewe vnder earth without sun or raine, this venera­ble Doctor answered that in me it was meere doltishnesse to aske such a que­stion: for, saith he, these flowers are not really vnder the earth, but the Lord by an Analogie instructeth vs of things in the other world. Let vs beare with his rusticall Philosophy: this licence to call Purgatory the other world; which [Page 152] neverthelesse hee placeth vnder earth, sometime in Bathes: sometime in Ri­vers: sometime in Ice, & sometime vn­der the leaues of trees. But who can en­dure that the dreames of a few Monks should bee tearmed the word of God? Either that when they tell vs these fa­bles it is God that instructeth vs? All this the frier passeth over without any answer, but meerely excuseth himselfe, saying, that he will speak more thereof the next Lent in his lenten sermons. The like answere hee might haue made to the whole booke, & never troubled the Iesuits of Tournon for their helpe.

23 Finally, admit Purgatory should breed none of these mischiefes, yet surely it cannot bring any good: for what benefit can grow of being tormented in the fire? To say, it purgeth our sinnes that matter is already answered, & con­victed not only of impietie but of con­tradiction and impossibilitie: for them­selues doe also say that the sinnes bee not purged, but the paines: And S. Iohn [Page 153] telleth vs that the blood of Iesus Christ doth purge vs from all sinne. And the pu­nishment or torment for a sinne is no purgation from that sinne: nether were the whip or gibbet ever tearmed a pur­gation.

24 To the same purpose. It see­meth that all punishment is either for satisfaction and his revenge that puni­sheth or causeth to bee punished:Aul. Gel. lib. 6. cap. 14. Clem. Alex­and. lib. 4. stromatum versus finem or else for the correction and punish­ment of him that is punished: either else for an example to others: But the fire of Purgatory yeldeth no satis­faction or revenge to God: conside­ring that hee hath already taken sa­tisfaction and revenge for our sinnes in the death of his sonne Iesus Christ? neither for the amendment or correcti­on of the soules that are in this fire, for they are already iust and without sinne: neither for any example to the living: for no man seeth any thing: neither to make vs the more honest, by holding vs in feare: for God desireth not to be ser­ved [Page 154] for feare of punishment, but in loue and voluntary obedience: besides if it were a matter that stood vpō feare, hell were sufficient to terrifie vs.

Pag 80. Pag. 109.The fire of Helie & the frier impute to mee that I should say that I beleeue not Purgatory because I see nothing: but where said I so? but I say I beleeue none, because I so find it in the word of God: and therefore the Monkes ampli­fications to this purpose are cold and grounded vpon a slander. Bellarmine & with him my adversaries doe imagine that they haue found a commoditie in Purgatory: for [say they] It is profitable to the glory of God that the secunda­ry causes should worke: that is to say, that our soules should contribute sōe­what towards the purchasing of salva­tion: God then belike honoureth his creatures in making them to be tormē ­ted: sith that to bee tormented is the way to contribute towardes the pur­chase of salvation. They then that doe longest abide in torments do cōtribute [Page 155] most: and God sheweth more favor to them then to those whom hee tormen­teth lesse, or whom by the Popes In­dulgences hee fetcheth soonest out of the fire. As for this principle, it is a point in natural Philosophy, but not al­waies true in Divinity; wherein it were better to receiue supernaturall graces from God then to put forth our forces and so to worke naturally. Howbeit let vs accept of this principle, least our people shoulde overlabour them selues to defend it: for as wel it maketh against Purgatory: It were better [say they] that the soules should do: but in Purgatorie they suffer: they are miserably roasted certaine hundreds of yeares: Admit that to roast were to do, yet were it better to doe in heaven and so to haue the action of Angels: As for the Contri­bution that we shal bring to the attai­ning of salvation, the holy scripture prescribeth vs other meanes to attaine thereto. It willeth vs to beleeue in Ie­sus Christ: to carry his Crosse: leaving [Page 156] al worldly cogitations, to tend to the aime of supernatural vocation, and to make perfect our salvation with trem­bling and with feare. Thus is there a meanes to labour for our salvation, yet such as our labour shal not be accoun­ted a payment or satisfaction, neither our soules be roasted in a fire.

Now albeit I haue spokē and incul­cated these things the more expresly to cut of sclanders, and that I haue said & do yet say that the faithful ought to cō ­tribute and to bring whatsoever their care & labor toward the work of their salvation, yet is bad dealing so turned into nature with our frier minor that he dare sclander & impute to me a cō ­trary speech to that which indeede I spake. That for our parts we ought to cōtribute nothing, Slander. and that the holy scripture teacheth vs to go to Iesus Christ, &c. And withall he exclaimeth saying, Why do you thus abuse the people? A prodigious shāe­lesnes. Thus is the cause of Jesus Christ handled as some oration over a box of [Page 157] triakle, or a game at gobelets.

The auctor of the fire of Helie doth likewise wrest my words: He maketh as he were abashed [saith he] because wee saie that the soules in Purgatory doe satisfie by their paines: because they doe not, but only they suffer. But I never spake it.

25 Vpon this fire already quen­ched, we poore, as a surplussage, this as­persion taken out of a booke indeed A­pocriphal, yet such a one as our adver­saries do hold for Canonical. Thus speaketh the booke of Wisdome cap. 3. v. 1. of the soules of the faithful. The soules of the righteous are in the hands of God, & no torment shall touch them: then shall they not go into Purgatory. He ad­deth, At their departure they enter into peace: then not into a fire.

CAP. 4. Against mans satisfactions in generall.

PVrgatory thus ra­zed, which is the forest and most scortching satisfa­ction, let vs go forward and search it even to the roote, reversing in gene­rall all the satisfactory paines that our adversaries do impose vpon the sinner. And now that we are cōe to the word satisfie you are to vnderstand that there are two sorts of satisfying:Expositiō of the word Satisfie. the one for debt, the other for offence. Debt wee satisfy by paying: offence by confessing the fault and craving pardon: this in true speech is to make satisfactiō. Now in this questiō we deale with the means how to satisfie God for our offences: which is, not by paying or redemption, [Page 159] but by humbling of our selues, with a­mendment and asking forgiuenesse. As therefore we doe admit this kind of sa­tisfaction; which signifieth the confes­sing of our faults and humiliation be­fore God, so on the other side we reiect such satisfactions as are holden for re­demptions and payments to Gods iu­stice.Pag 80.

The Monke beareth himselfe after his ordinary manner in a ridiculous in­solent ignorance. These be his wordes. In this place I coniure the reader without passion to consider the grossnesse of the mi­nister: for hauing brought him into such tearmes that he could not vnsay himselfe, he bethought him of the most notable ca­vill in the world: namely, that where the ancients doe vse this word Satisfie, they vse it in this signification to haue faulted, as who would say Nolim factum: A slander. yea hee hath presumed to set this downe in writing, these last words he addeth that himself might giue vent to the slaunder: for Throughout my writing is there any [Page 160] mention that Satisfie should signifie to haue done amisse? But I say that to Sa­tisfie signifieth to confesse to haue don amisse and to aske forgiuenesse. Now let vs see whether his coniuratiōs with­out holy water be not frivolous, and how hee discovereth my grossenesse. What Calepine, saith he, did ever deliver such an interpretation? Hee vnderhand confesseth that he is well seene in Cale­pine: but we need no Calepine in words that little boies are skilfull enough in. Suetonius in Iulius Caesar, cap. 73. Valeriū Catullum, à quo sibi vesiculis de Mamurra perpetua stigmata imposita non dissimula­verat, satisfacientem eadem die admisit ce­nae. And in Tiberius, cap. 27. Consularem satisfacientem sibi, ac per genua orare co­nantem, ita suffugit vt caderet supinus. And in Claudius, cap. 38. Ostiensibus gra­viter correptis, cu (que) cum invidia, vt in or­dinem se coactum scriberet, repente tantū non satisfacientis modo veniam dedit. And read Torrentius vpon the first passage, where he saith. Solebant qui verbis ali­quem [Page 161] laeserant, Ni [...] in te scripsi Bithinice credere non vis: & iurare iube▪ Malo satisfacere. iurare nolle se ea dicta esse, at (que) ita satisfacere. This is the sense of the worde in Martial. lib. 12. Epigram. 79. In Plautus Amphitruo Ale­mena iniuried by her husband, saith thus, Aut satisfaciat mihi at (que) adiuret in­super se nolle esse dicta quae in me insontem protulit. Tertullian in his booke de poeni­tentia saith, Satisfactio confessione dispo­nitur. Confession And that which hee calleth satis­faction in the same booke he calleth Ex­omologesis; Gehennam exomologesis extin­guit. But peradventure our Monke wil thinke these latin auctors to bee tain­ted with heresie, or to be incompetent iudges & of smal skil in his latin tōgue which now we must learne out of Scot, Holcot, Bricot, or the rule of S. Frances where it is elegantly said, Fratres possunt vestimenta repeciare de saccis & alijs pe­cijs cum benedictione Dei. It is now ther­fore meere simplicity in our younger schollers to offer to speake latin in the presence of the Franciscans: for that which is said in the tēth chapter of the [Page 162] same rule That friers vnlearned, must not care to learne: is spokē for that time when ignorance was meritory. But be­cause these witnesses be but of smal au­ctority, let vs here Bellarmine in his fourth booke De poenitentia cap. 16. vpō these words of S. Ambrose: Ambros. No­mine satisfa­ctionis excu­sationem siue defensionem apertissime designavit. lachrimas Petri lego, satisfactionem non lego, saith that S. Ambrose by this word satisfaction meaneth excuse or defēce: no paymēt or redemption then, as our frier woulde haue it, who to mainetaine his speech produceth such passages of the Scrip­ture as make against him, wherein to satisfie signifieth not to pay or redeem. He saith, that Pilat meaning to satisfie the Iewes delivred Barrabas & S. Paul defen­ding himselfe before his Iudge Felix saith that he will satisfie for himselfe, in Greeke it is [...] I defend my self. Yet in al this haue we no speech of pai­ment or redemption. What is now be­come of our Coniurations, and the de­monstrations of my grossenesse? Learn brother Minor and thanke me.

[Page 163]Now let vs wrastle with these hu­mane satisfactions taken for redempti­ons & payments to the Iustice of God for the payments due to our sins: here­to serveth al that hath beene spoken a­gainst the satisfaction of Purgatory & for the sufficiency of the only satisfa­ction of Iesus Christ: now let vs there­to adioine the reasons.

2 By the holy scripture we learne that Salvation is a gift, yea a free gift:Rom. 6.23. Luk. 12.32. Ephes. 2.8. Pag. 102. we do not then buy it, neither doe wee pay any price for it in part or in whole. Du Val answereth not: The frier saith that the two first passages are false, and that there is not such a worde, let vs therefore looke vpon the passages at large. In the 6. to the Rom. v. 23. S Paule saith, the gift of God is eternal life through Iesus Christ. In the 12. of S. Luke, v. 32. Iesus Christ saith. Feare not litle flock, for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you the kingdome. Am I a falsifier, or hee a slan­derer? You see it is: his hope was that the reader woulde never haue searched [Page 164] out the places: for their prohibition that none shall read the holy scripture emboldeneth him in this liberty: yet doth it not serue his turne: for having so falsely accused me of falshood in the next line himselfe committeth a nota­ble falshood, corrupting this excellent passage of S. Paul to the Ephes. cap. 2. For by grace are yee saved through faith, and that not of your selues, It is the gift of God. Then NOT BY WORKES, least any man should boast him selfe: But this Frier to breake the force of this passage, and to entāgle it, maketh the Apostle to speak thus. The salvation wrought by our Lord, proceeded of the only grace of God, & of his mercy and loue. He perverteth the sense and taketh away the words of most im­portance, that it is not by workes that wee are saved, but by the gift of God. Where is truth and plaine dealing become? Where is conscience? O God how lōg shal thy advesaries tread thy holy word vnder foot?

3 Against this so wholsome do­ctrine, [Page 165] which appeaseth our cōsciences and giueth to God the glory of our re­demption our adversaries doe obiect the Counsell that Daniell gaue to Na­buchadnezar. Redeeme thy sinnes by alms. 1. But this redemption was not toward God, but toward men whome hee had robbed, and was therefore to recom­pence them by liberalitie. 2. Againe here the question concerneth satisfac­tory paines, in which ranck Almes hath no place, albeit it is a worke comman­ded to all, and an exercise pleasing to the faithfull. Never will any man exer­cise charitie as he ought, so long as hee thinke it a punishment or satisfactorie paine. Is that helpe where one mem­ber helpeth another, as the hand doth the foot, a paine? We all are members of one selfe bodie saith Saint Paul. 3. Which is more, our adversaries will haue our satisfactions to serue to redeeme from the iustice of God not the sinnes, but the punishment for the sinnes. Now here it is, Redeeme [Page 166] thy sinnes. Here therefore haue we need of a glosse after the Romish manner, that Sinne here signifieth the punishment of sinne as who should call Theft the whip. Murder, the gallows. For everie absurdity is good with these men, pro­vided that yee beleeue a Purgatory. 4. The principall point is this, that this king Nabuchadnezar beeing a heathen needed no satisfactions, which they say, serue but to redeem tēporal paines, and that after baptisme, or after Circū ­cision, but this king was never circum­cised, & being out of the Church, nee­ded not these meanes to avoide eternal paine. The frier produceth yet other passages, as in the Proverbs, cap. 5. v. 29. Almes purgeth sinne: but this place is false & the whol verse left out of the He­brew: yea even the Romane translatiō it hath no speech of Almes. 2. To what purpose speake we of purgation where the question is of redemption. 3. Final­ly we confesse that amendment of life purgeth sinne, so farre forth as by this [Page 167] meanes the sinner becommeth cleane, as cleanlynes purgeth the body, succee­ding after foulnesse, as they say in the schooles non efficienter, but formaliter. But where the question concerneth such a purging of sinnes as by vertue thereof we shall appeare cleane and in­nocent in the day of iudgement there the holy Scripture saith that The blood of Iesus Christ purgeth vs from all our sins. 1. Ioh. 1.7. Hee also citeth the 16. of the Proverbs. Almes redeemeth iniquitie: whereto I haue already answered vpon the place of Daniel: besides the passage is falsely set downe, for according to the He­brew it is thus, There shal bee propitiation for iniquitie by gratuitie and truth. Yea even in the Romane translation there is no speech of almes. That which hee ad­deth out of the 12. of Toby, That almes maketh vs to finde eternall life, is not in the greeke originals: neither is it to the purpose: for we do confesse that almes and all other good workes are the way to salvation, and consequently to make [Page 168] vs finde salvation: but here our questiō concerneth the price of our redempti­on from the paine due to our sinnes: which also may bee an answer to that which he hath alleaged out of the 4 of Tobie: Almes deliuereth from death, and suffereth vs not to come into darkenesse. For so it is in the greeke. Surely no man doth deny but that good works be the way to salvation, and in applying our selues to them, we withdraw our selues from perdition. Let vs goe on, and sith the old serpēt, though cut asunder knit­teth himselfe againe, let vs not cease mangling of him with the word of God and sword of the Gospell.

4 God commanding vs to pray that he would forgiue our offences, as wee forgiue them that haue offended vs, doth thereby shewe that wee must looke for like forgiuenesse from him as we doe giue to our neighbours, that is, without revenging or exacting satisfa­ctory paines.

5 But what if I should proue to [Page 169] these advocats of mans satisfactions, that man by satisfactory paines cannot satisfie God for paines due to the least sinne? For if slandering of our neighbor or calling of our brother fool, be in the Church of Rome veniall sinnes, & yet S. Paul. saith in the first to the Corinthi­ans the 6. that backbiters shall not inhe­rit the kingdome of God: & Iesus Christ saith that hee that calleth his brother fool, is punishable in hel fire, when shal we haue satisfied for the paine due to such a sinne, which many times evē the best doe incurre? Or when shal we haue endured paines satisfactory for hel fire, or for a sinne that deserveth deprivati­on from eternall life? To the ende also that our adversaries should not make cursing a mortall sinne by their glosses and consequences, their owne decree distinct. 25. maketh a long list of veniall sinnes, among which cursing hath his place saying: Si cum omni facilitate vel temeritate maledicimus, quoniam scriptū est, nec Maledici possidebunt regnum Dei. [Page 170] By the iudgement therefore of their own Canōs cursing is of two natures: The one that it is veniall: the other, that it is excluded out of the kingdome of heauen, and consequently deserveth e­ternall death. Whereas our frier doth coniecture & granteth that the calling of a mans brother foole, draweth with it the sinne of wrath consummate, hee shall hold vs excused although we ad­mit not his coniectures for rules: besids I will returne him to Cayer, Caier. p. 20 who will haue Gehenna here to signifie Purgato­ry, not hel, as the Frier would haue it.

Ioh. 8.11.6 Our Saviour Christ said to the woman taken in adultery, Goe and sinne no more. Dismissing her hee did not im­pose vpon her any satisfactory paines, no more then S. Paul when hee pardo­ned the incestuous man. That which particularly maketh against Purgatory is this: That if neither Iesus Christ, not S. Paul imposed any satisfactory paines vpon the sinners, even when in appa­rance they might haue beene profita­ble [Page 171] for amendment, howe much lesse will God impose satisfactory paines vp on his children in a burning fire, when there is no farther place for amēdmēt? Here doth our Monk come forth with such an answer as hitteth himselfe and his fellowes on the knuckles, saying. The griefe may ly so heauie on the sinner, that it may satisfie for the whole obligation of the paine. For besides that hee doth thus coniecture of the womās cogita­tion, he also evidētly accuseth the Popes and Priests of manifest iniustice & rash­nesse, in that they impose satisfactory paines vpon the sinner that protesteth sorrow and repentance. For what know they whether the sinner bee so oppres­sed with sorrow as that heauinesse may serue for satisfaction? Or what knowe they whether she hath sufficiently satis­fied, sith they wot not how grievous her sorrow was?

7 Againe who hath givē the Pope or his Priests auctority to impose cor­poral or pecuniary punishments vpon [Page 172] sinners? Let them shew vs any cōman­demēt from God or his Apostles. The Primitiue Church indeed reproved sin, by excluding men for a time from the communion of the faithful, and that af­ter the example of S. Paule, who for a time cut of the incestuous person from the Church of Corinth: but after ab­solution to impose Corporal or pecu­niary punishment: or to enioine men to pilgrimages or scourgings we find no example. The old Testament doth indeed furnish vs of some examples of such as haue fasted and wept for their sins, because weeping proceedeth from sorrow and fasting is a helpe to devo­tion and freedome of minde: but as I said, after forgiuenes to impose punish­ments vpon the sinner whereby to re­deeme the paines of Purgatory and so to satisfie the Iustice of God I finde no example.

8 And it seemeth that these our masters haue compounded with God, & that they are assured that God wil be [Page 173] content with any summe of mony, or a­ny pilgrimage, and so wil bee appeased toward the sinner. But if this seem hard to be beleeved, how can mens consci­ences be at quiet? How shal they be as­sured that God wil be cōtent with such satisfactions imposed by the Priest? Whosoever vndertaketh to pay his debts must first inquire what he oweth, as also consider of the valew of coines that he giveth to his creditor: but the sinner knoweth not howe much tem­poral paine he oweth to God, neither the value of every of his satisfactions. How shal he then know when he hath sufficiently satisfied? What knoweth he how neere every fast bringeth him to Paradice? every pilgrimage: every scourging: and indeed we see how these con­sciences whom they haue captivated are in perpetual disquiet, and so haue recourse to the satisfactions of others: to buy Masses for after their decease, & to depart hence in marveilous feare & an­guish. A iust punishment for choosing [Page 174] for the foundation of their hope other props and stayes then the only satisfa­ction of Iesus Christ.

9 Againe in as much as some con­demned to corporal pennances, can ex­change them into pecuniary, how shall we be assured that God, in liew of cor­poral punishments, will be cōtent with money.Penitent. Ro. Tit. 9. c. 29. The Romane penitentiall tel­leth vs that A rich man may redeeme one fasting day for two shillings, but an ex­treame poore mā must giue at the lest foure pence. Thus may the poore man when he hath paid his money fast for more.

10 If in absolution they pretende to loosen the sinner, how doe they in loosing his bonds entangle him farther, and by pardoning him, condemne him to greater paines?

11 I would farther demand whe­ther the satisfactions that they impose be good works or no. If they bee not good why do they enioine thē? If they bee good why doeth the Pope release them, and by his Indulgences dispense with them? Can we without horrour [Page 175] read that which Bellarmine hath writtē in his booke De poenitentia. Bellar. de Penit l. 4. c. 13. Indulg. faci­unt vt pro iis poenis quae nobis per Indul condonantur non tenea­mur praecep­to illo de faci endis dignis paenitentiae fructibus. Bellar. de paenit. l. 1. c. 4. That Indul­gences do dispense with obedience to this cōmandement in the third of Mat­thew. Bring forth fruits worthy repentāce: for sith they will needes haue it so that this saying, Bring forth fruits worthy re­pentance, to signifie to chastise a mans owne selfe, and the Pope doth dispense with this chastisement, it plainly appeareth that the Pope dispenseth with Gods Commandements.

12 And here I beseech you consi­deratly to way howe farre superstition hath encroached vpon the auctority of the Gospel. Our enemies do make a ce­remony and a sacrament of Penance, which indeed is of it selfe a vertue. Be­ing demaunded whether Penance were a sacrament before the comming of Christ, they say no:Cons. Trid. Sess. 4. c. 1. Even the pre­lates, assembled in the Councell of Trent doe acknowledge that the pen­nāce which Iesus Christ before his pas­sion and resurrection and Iohn the Bap­tist preached, was no sacramēt: for they [Page 176] wil haue it to be made a sacramēt since the resolution of Jesus Christ, and that without any other proofe, then their owne authority: for they wil be belee­ved vpon their owne words. But wee haue one passage in the Revelation, written since the ascention of Jesus Christ that expoūdeth vnto vs the sig­nification of Agere poenitentiam, to doe penance, or to repent. In the second of the Revelation God complaining of the Ephesians, who were fallen from their first loue, commandeth them to Repent and to do their first works, therby shewing that Repentance consisteth in a­mendment of life. At the least thus much we haue gathered of their owne confessions, that the penance or repen­tance practised in the Church of Rome is not the stone that Jesus Christ and S. Iohn Baptist did preach: for they indeed, when sinners came to them, imposed no satisfactory paines. Note likewise that the same which when Iesus Christ preached it, was a vertue is nowe be­come [Page 177] a Ceremony; and from a chang­ing of the soule is come to be an Exer­cise of the body: and now set down for the redemption of our soules, as before we heard in Bellarmine, that men are Re­deemers of themselues. Neither may we omit that this their sacrament of penance serveth but for the sins commit­ted after Baptisme: whereof it follow­eth that if an old Pagan should convert to the faith he should be received with­out penance or repentance.

13 There is yet more. For as it were Ridiculous to sowe a piece of friese vpon a satten garment, so is it a matter that can hardly agree to ioine our satisfactions, our fasts, our scour­gings, a haire cloath, a corde, a friers coule, a roasting of soules with the pas­sion of the only son of God, to make vp the total of the redemptiō of our souls and of satisfaction vnto God.

14 In this matter our adversaries do still retire to their withered and olde beaten principle: that is, that God after [Page 178] he hath pardoned the sin requireth sa­tisfaction to his iustice by the punish­ment of the sinne. We haue already shewed that to forgiue a sinne, and thē to exact satisfactorie punishment for the same are things incompatible. That God never required any such satisfacti­on of the theefe, neither Iesus Christ of the woman taken in adultery: neither S. Paule of the Incestuous person after he had forgiven him. That Iesus Christ hath satisfied for all the paines due to our sinnes. That the iustice of God ac­cepteth of no payment but such as shal be most exact and to the proofe of his righteousnes. But there is no satisfacti­on sufficient to vndergoe that examen, but only the satisfaction of the son of God by Ieremy called The eternall, our righteousnesse. And therefore that our travailes and afflictions are profitable to exercise, proue, amend, and humble vs, but not to redeeme vs, or to satisfie to Gods Iustice, which is already fullie satisfied by Iesus Christ, and which re­quireth [Page 179] not two paymentes for one debt.

15 Yea which is more, themselues do acknowledge that in baptisme God forgiveth both the fault and the punishment and requireth not of the sinner a­ny satisfactory paine:Bellar. de paenit. l. 4. c. 10. It is not therfore repugnant to the iustice of God to for­giue without our satisfactions.

16 But in as much as this is one of the greatest abuses in popery That God by Baptisme doth pardon both the fault & the punishment of sinnes committed before Baptisme: yet that wee must satisfie and pay the Iustice of God for the sins committed after Baptisme, It is necessary we should a little crush out this impo­stume. 1.Conc. Trid. Sess. 24. c. 8. First who authorized them in matter of remission of sins and redemptiō to invent new articles of faith with out warrant of the holy scriptures? If a heathē murderer or incestuous parson shoulde hypocritically cause himselfe to be baptized, shall this baptisme blot out all his former sinnes, or shal his hy­pocrisie [Page 180] prooue fruitfull before God?Tertul. de paenit. cap. 6. Tertullian indeed in his booke de Poeni­tentia saith that it cannot be: yet doth Spaine furnish vs of many examples thereof, where the Mahumetan Maran­nes do cause themselues dissemblingly to be baptized. 2. Againe let vs repre­sent to our selues a heathen man, a mur­derer, a sacrilegious person, &c. One who sinneth not of ignorance, or of feare, but of meere malice, and at the last in his old age repenteth, frameth himselfe to Christianity and receiveth baptisme: which as our adversaries do say is of such vertue, that God doth simply and without satisfaction forgiue him all his sins committed before his baptisme: but for the sins that he shall afterward commit, albeit smal and of in firmity yet God requireth that he beare the punishment as well here as in Pur­gatory. Doth it stande with the iustice of God simply and without satisfaction to pardon the greater sinnes commit­ted of malice at one time: and at ano­ther [Page 181] time to impose fiery torments for much lesser offences committed igno­rantly or of infirmitie? Moreover, when by baptisme we haue put on Christ, as saith S. Paule. Galat. 3.27. haue wee put him on only for that time, or for all the daies of our life? Or is the benefite of Christs death of lesse effect after bap­tisme then in baptisme? 4. Wherein I pray you consisteth the vertue of bap­tisme but in this, that thereby wee are made partakers in the merits of the death of Iesus Christ, being by baptisme buried with him in his death? Also if in the holy supper,Rom. 6. and in the gospell ap­prehēded by faith we be also partakers, why should we not feel the like effects? 5. I would aske againe what the reason is that sith in their Masses is applied (as they say) the benefit of Iesus Christ, why their Masse should bee of lesse efficacy then baptisme? or wherefore it cannot exempt a sinner from satisfactory pu­nishment? Also for what cause, they so highly extolling the excellency of their [Page 182] Masse, do in this point so clip her wings and trusse her vp so short? Yea and why they stand in neede of so many Masses to fetch one soule out of Purgatoty, cō sidering that if their Masses doe apply to that soule the benefit of Iesus Christ they cannot apply it otherwise then it is, namely hauing an infinit power and consequently able to deliuer that soule at the first dash. But the mischiefe is that if this should bee performed by one Masse only, then should the profits of the Clergie bee mightily diminished. Now albeit all these things be as cleere as the day, yet are we in small hope that those men can take any relish in them that are fed & maintained by the abase­ment of the benefit of the death of Ie­sus Christ. For the documents of Gods word can never pierce into the vnder­standing vntill the true zeale of God be first entred into the heart. Avarice, I­dlenesse, and Incredulitie do harden the minds, exasperate the stomacks, and as rude, barbarous, & vngratefull porters [Page 183] hinder the entry and from our mindes stop vp all the waies to the doctrine of the gospell.The fruits of the Sa­crament of pennance. Now if there be any thing that vpholdeth the tyranny, that foste­reth the vices, or that nourisheth the idlenesse of the Clergie, it is this newe sacrament of pennance, which is as it were the Palladium of Babylon. First by their auricular confessiō (a member of this sacrament) they search into the se­crets of houses, and make themselues terrible to those whoe after they haue revealed to them their filthines & faults cannot behold them without feare and shame. By this they purchase great li­berty with Princes & Princesses, whose most secret affaires they doe by shrift discover. By this such as make any pro­iects of Civill warres doe find the par­ticular affections of the people and vn­derstand of whom and how many they may make account, hauing the Priests trustie to them and feede for that pur­pose. By this doe the Priests make way to their covetous desires: for hauing by [Page 184] shrift discovered such as bee of a good temper, they can soone knowe where to find but easie resistance. In this shrift they also sport themselues with strange questions, for they never aske the sin­ner whether hee loue God withall his heart: whether he preferreth the glory of God before worldly goods: whether he loueth his neighbour as himselfe: whether he trusteth in the promises of the Gospell and hath a stedfast faith in Christ: whether he bestoweth his time in the daily reading and meditating vp­on Gods word, which are the first points of pietie: but he asketh him whether he doth obserue Lent: whether he had the company of his wife in the weeke be­fore Easter called the great week: whe­ther hee hath paid his duties to the Church: whether hee hath beene trou­bled with any fowle cogitations of li­centious handlings, voluntary or not voluntary pollutions, &c. Looke vpon their mirrour of confessions: the com­ment of Anthony Augustin Bishop of [Page 185] Aragon vpon the poenitentiall Canons of the Roman Poenitential: and namely Benedictus Summe of sinnes, which is in every shop. Also the 19. book of Bur­chard Bishop of Wormes, which entrea­teth of confessions, and then call mee a deceauer, a beast, the spirit of Satan, as the Frier doth, if you finde not all kinde of abominatiōs curiously set forthwith the vices against nature, the secrets of religious houses, and the subtil sleights of Nunnes exactly taught vnder the shaddow of Reprehension. These mat­ters will I leaue to such as are past shāe: yet can I not forbeare but must of ne­cessitie touch some of the most tollera­ble, that by them you may iudge of the rest. The Roman Penitentiall deman­deth of the sinner in his shrift, Fecisti fornicationem cum equa, velasina? If hee haue so done, the pennance is to fast with bread and water fortie daies. In Burchard the Priest saith to the woman Fe [...]isti quod quaedam Multeres facere so­lent? Prosternunt se in faciem & discooper­tis [Page 186] natibus iubent vt super nudas nates confiotatur panis, & eo decocto tradunt maritis ad comedendum; hoc ideo faciunt vt plus in amorem earum exardescantisi feci­sti duos annos per legitimas ferias poenite­as. Againe he asketh Fecisti quod Mulie­res quaedam facere solent? Tollunt piscem vivum & eum ponunt in &c. Againe, Fe­cisti quod quaedam Mulieres facere solent? vt cum filiolo tuo parcuùlo fornicationem faceres? Let the reader seeke the rest if he list, but by my counsell he shall never goe about it: for if it be lawfull to speak of that a man hath not seene, I thinke the discipline of Tiberius in his secrets of Capreae, the Sibariticall bookes and Aretins tables for the which hee was surnamed. Il Divino Aretino, are in re­gard of these, but modesty and simplici­ty. But this mischiefe is not so done: for after shrift they giue absolution and do pardon after the manner of Iudges that pronounce sentence of remission: wheras they ought to pronounce pardon, as herehaughts of the grace of God, prea­ching [Page 187] to the penitent sinner that God is recōciled vnto him through the blood of Iesus Christ: and as ministers loosen the sinner: not as Iudges, but as prea­chers of the grace of God, which is purchased for them through the death of Iesus Christ: for it lieth not in mee to pardon offences committed against a­nother: but the party against whome they be committed is to pardon them: much lesse then can man that is vile & perverse, pardon sinnes committed a­gainst God, who is righteousnes it selfe. If a sinner doe earnestly and hartely re­pent, God will forgiue him although the Priest will not: but if he doe not re­pent, God will not forgiue him, albeit the Pope himselfe should. Now doe I leaue it to your consideration in what manner the Pope can giue pardons by his letters patents, sealed in forme of Decrees, cōsidering that himselfe knoweth not whether his pardons be accep­table with God and may stand the sin­ner in any stead: neither is hee sure that [Page 188] the sinner haue true repentance, with­out the which there is no forgiuenesse, saith God in Esay cap. 43. for it is God only that can pardon sinne, as saith S^t. Cyprian. Cyprian. ser. de lapsis. Ne­mo se fallat: Nemo decipi­at: solus Do­minus mise­rere potest. Veniam pec­catis soius potestille larg [...] riqu [...] p [...]eca­ta nostra portavit &c. nec remittere Indulgentia sua potest quod in Do­m [...]num de­licto gravio­ri commissū est. Let no man deceaue himselfe, there is but one God only that can forgiue sinne. And Tertullian in his booke of shamefastnesse, cap. 21. saith, Who for­giveth sinne but God only?

This absolution thus givē, the priest imposeth vpon him satisfactory paines either corporal or pecuniary: herein li­eth the tyranny: for by this meanes, al­beit vnder other titles, they haue en­croached a civil dominion over al peo­ple: yea even so far forth as to cut thē off from some sorts of meates: to en­ioine them abstinence from the duties of marriage: to condemne them to pil­grimages: to girt a cord vpon their bare flesh: to giue some portion of mony to some Church, or religious house. Thē having thus imposed corporall paines, either vpon favour or vpon covetize, they convert the same into pecuniary: [Page 189] or peradventure they wil licence them to hire some other to perfourme their penance, or to be scourged for them: as at Rome in the passion weeke, which they call the great weeke, you may see whole troopes of hired persons, who masked and disguised with their faces hiddē do publikely mangle their backs with scourgings,See Apuleiꝰ in his eight book of the golden asse where hee painteth the Priests of Diana the Syrien scourging themselus in the same manner. with a mercenary cru­elty and ambitious penance. But wher­fore is not all this performed in secret? Why still vpon one day? Is sorrow and repentance ordered after the course of the sunne? Or is penitent affliction be­come an ordinary ceremony? What example in all antiquity of so cruell a iest? And indeed they are people but of meane calling. If there be any of ac­cōpt vndoubtedly they be frenchmen: for the Italians will never do it without great pay: and as men better advised, do mocke our simplicity. They may per­adventure finde some lazy company who can be cōtent that his back should feed his belly like a porter, but in other [Page 190] manner. Rhenanus a very learned man in his annotations vpon Tertullian ad Martyres saith that this māner of scour­ging is taken from the Lacedemonians who customably vsed such whippings.

Now as the Pope is the greatest, so doth he smite the greatest blowes: for by these meanes the hath encroached a dominion over Emperours, kings and Princes, whom either in person, or by their Embassadours he forceth to take the stripes and beatings in his own pre­sence.Baldus. l 5. De. 2. Mach. l. 1. Hist. of Florence. Polid. Virg. Mat. Paris. Io. Maior. l. 4 c. 3. Omitting all latter examples let vs speak of matters more ancient. Pope Alexander the third enioyned Henry the second king of England in person to go into Palestine, and withal to giue to his subiects leaue to make their ap­peales to Rome. Pope Innocent the fourth imposed vpon Iohn king of the same land a yearly satisfactiō of a thou­sand markes: and this tribute continu­ed in force in England vntill the Refor­mation. Pope Alexander the thirde made the Emperour Fredericke Barba­rossa [Page 191] to humble himselfe at his feet: yea he set his foot vpon his throat: nay more: They haue proceeded so far as to depriue kings and Emperours of their estates: which is a grievous satisfactiō, and never followed by any Indulgence. The more we read, the more abhomi­nation. And it falleth out with vs in these matters as with such as begin to count the stars in the beginning of the evening: but after by the multitude that shoot forth are vtterly confounded. Alas! how hath Satan wonne so much from the Church of God? Had we ever greater cause with the Prophet Ieremie to wish that our eies were fountaines to bewaile these woūds of the church? so great abuse? so heavy a yoke laid vp­on mens consciences? O eternall son of God take in hand thine owne cause: de­liver so many captived soules: and let the light of thy gospel shine among vs. But least we should stray too far, let vs returne to our principal matter, & boldly enter the Bishop of Romes quarters. [Page 192] We purpose to lay open his marchan­dize & vsurpations in matter of Indul­gences where by he draweth the soules out of Purgatory. And as these people haue at the confines of Purgatory pla­ced a field all diapred with flowers, as a dependance or withdrawing chamber thereof so shall the chapter ensuing be a dependance of the question of Purga­tory. For this fiery prison was purpo­sedly built, that the Pope might bee the Iaylor thereof: and from thence fetch foorth the soules by the hookes of his buls & Indulgences, which be of more charge to the living then profit to the dead. Purgatory is the matter wherof, and Indulgences the cause for which we do dispute.

CAP. 5. Against Indulgences and the fetching of soules out of Purgatory.

THE Pope at the petitiō of the kin­dred and friends of the deceased [if they be of abi­lity and calling] doth many times grant Indulgen­ces wherewith to fetch the soule of the deceased out of Purgatory: yea which is more, he cōferreth such grace to cer­taine aulters that whosoever shall pro­cure a stinted number of Masses to bee said thereon, he shall fetch one soul out of Purgatory: himselfe hath also some times granted to such as beene crossed to the holy lād, priviledge to fetch one or more soules out of Purgatory at their choice. A grace and favor which is also conferred to the fraternity of the Corde.

[Page 194] Cardinall Caietan in the beginning of the booke of Indulgences acknowled­geth that in all antiquity there was no­thing to be found concerning Indulgē ­ces. Durand, Antoninus and Roffensis do say that Indulgences were not knowne in the daies of S. Ierome, and S. Augustin, or during the first fiue hundred years:Bell. de In­dul. l. 2. c. 17 Biel. in. Can. Missae lect. 57. tit. 1.7. as Bellarmine also confesseth. Gabriell Byel vpon the Canon of the Masse saith as much: & making a question wherefore now a daies they should be so frequent; he answereth himselfe with the words of Iesus Christ: It is not for you to knowe the times and seasons which the Lorde hath put in his owne power. With this bridle he restraineth our curiosity. Besides my adversaries who will vse the fathers in despight of their hearts, haue not yet produced the example of any one fet­ched out of Purgatory vnder the pri­mitiue Church: As for that which the fire of Helie telleth of Silvester and Gre­gory is false, and hath not the testimony of any ancient autor.

[Page 195]Now to furnish so notable a libera­lity, the Pope hath laide a bottomelesse foundation, which he nameth The trea­sury of the Church: and it is composed of the superabundance of the merits & suffrings both of Iesus Christ and of his Saints. This he distributeth among the souls of the dead, to helpe them out of Purgatory, & it is manifestly laid down in the Extravagants of Clement the sixt which beginneth Vnigenitus. Ad cuius the sauri cumulīe Beatae Dei Genetricis & omnia electo­rum merita adminiculū prestare nos­cuntur. Wherein it is said that the merits of the mother of God and of all the elect do helpe the merit of Iesus Christ: and serue to make vp the heape of this treasure.

To enter therefore into the exami­nation of this new Gospell. 1. We aske who gaue the Pope power to fetch soules out of Purgatory? 2. Let them produce either commandement or example of any Indulgences given to the deade by the Apostles or by their first successours. 3. If it bee a new benevolence, how commeth it that God is now become more liberall [Page 196] then heretofore? 4. If al the power that the Pope assumeth to himselfe were first promised in these words, I will giue thee the kayes, &c. when was it actually conferred? It was [say they] when Iesus Christ said to Peter, Feed my Lambs. Ad­mit it was spoken to the Pope, and that S. Peter only had the charge of feeding our Lords Lambs: must wee therefore reckon the dead among these Lambes? Yea, will some say, because the Pope therevpon sheareth them: be it so: but is the pulling of thē out of the fire, fee­ding? 5. Moreover in that the Pope ar­meth his power with the words of Ie­sus Christ, Whatsoever yee shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven? Doth he not condemne him selfe, in that he go­eth beyond his commission? for Christ saith All that thou shalt loose on earth: hee saith not, All that thou shalt loose vnder earth. It must be saide that for the avoi­ding of this obiection, Pope Gregorie, & after him our doctors haue placed Pur­gatory in bathes, in ice, & in the winde. [Page 197] 6. Out of this groweth an other absur­dity and this it is, The Pope looseth & delivereth the souls out of prisō, which neverthelesse he could not binde: how commeth it that the Popes power is is halfe decayed toward these souls, and that he reserved himselfe no more power but to loosen? The answer is evident: for by binding of soules and imposing punishment vpon them hee could get nothing: for no man will giue mony to be tormented, but to be released from torment: he therefore reserved to him­selfe so much as is profitable. 7. Againe if he be able to draw out any soules out of this fire, howe chaunceth it that hee drawes out no more? What humanity is this in him that is tearmed The holy father, and is the head of the Church, to let his children lie frying in the horrors of a flaming fire, and yet is able to help them out? And he who saith that if by his bad courses hee shoulde carry innu­merable troopes of souls into hell with him,Can. si Papa Dist. 40. yet let no mā presume to reproue [Page 194] [...] [Page 195] [...] [Page 196] [...] [Page 197] [...] [Page 198] him: for he that is iudge of all is not to be iudged of any. Why doth hee not fetch thē out of Purgatory by troops? 8. Neither are we here to alleadge that the Popes giue their pardons to the dead in forme of suffrages & intercessiō but not of Iurisdictiō & absolute power for in this questiō that is of no import, because it is holden that in whatsoever forme the Pope giveth these pardons, they be alwaies of force, and the soules be released by thē out of this fire: there fore our continual demand is this, why he offereth not his Indulgences or suf­frages for more folkes and for longer time then he doth? 9. At the least this remaineth: sith the Pope pretendeth Iuridical power over the living, and gi­veth them pardons with Iurisdiction and power to absolue from all tempo­rall paine, why doth he not take order that every mā may before his death re­ceiue ful Indulgence? And that everie the soules of the faithfull may carry a­long with it three or foure hundred [Page 199] thousand yeares of pardon for her bet­ter indemnitie? why should the French or Spanish be in lesse favour with God then the enhabitants of Rome? of whō none goe to Purgatory vnlesse he be a very dolt, considering that even at his dore he hath so many Churches where in in one day he may purchase two or three hundred thousand yeares of par­don? 10. Again, how is it that the Pope delivereth the soules that are not of his charge from so long and grievous a torment, and yet cannot deliver the living that are (as he saith) of his charge from the smallest paines, diseases and afflicti­ons? Hereto the Frier in liew of answer saith J am a foole, and so overslippeth them with many frivolous demands to no purpose. 11. Whereof also cōmeth it that our Doctors memories are so short as to forget that before, hauing said that of necessitie the soules that haue not sufficiently satisfied in this life must be purged in Purgatory so to satis­fie the Iustice of God, they can now be [Page 200] content to permit the Pope by his par­dons to fetch the soules out of this fire, and thereby hinder both the purging of the soules and the satisfaction of Gods iustice? But if they reply that Gods iu­stice is satisfied because the Pope pre­senteth for them the overplus of the merits of Iesus Christ and his Saints, they runne themselues on the pikes: for why did he not presēt to God the same merits before the soules departed out of their bodies, so to exempt thē who­ly out of Purgatory? Or rather why should wee goe into Purgatory at all, sith Iesus Christ sitting at the right hād of God, and offering to his father his benefit for our redemptiō, performeth all that the Pope pretendeth to doe?

Against so many such pregnant ob­iections our Doctors do shroud them­selues vnder a miserable distinction, as vnder a wet net against the raine. They say that the Pope delivereth no soules out of Purgatory by any Iuridicall au­thoritie, but by suffrages: And the Do­ctor [Page 201] Du Val expoundeth this dictincti­on by a similitude: he saith, If the french King were desirous to redeeme out of Spaine a prisoner there detained for debts, he would not offer to fetch him thence by authoritie or iurisdiction, but by suffrage and entreatie, offering his debt to the king of Spaine. Here he compareth our King to the Pope, the king of Spaine to God, and Spaine it selfe to Purgatory: but that wee must say is in regard of the Inquisition. Now albeit this distinction hath no more force against such maine obiections then their holy water against the divels yet must I open the falsehood and ab­surditie thereof.Pag. 41. 48. 75. For first herevpō these Doctors do contradict themselues for Cayer fighteth against his companions and maintaineth that the Pope giueth his Indulgences to the dead by power of absolution: and that hee pardoneth their sinnes as a king: and indeed in the taxe of the Popes Chancery wee finde these words. For an excommunicate per­son [Page 202] for whom his parents doe entreat the letters of absolution, Pro mortuo excommuni­cato pro quo supplicāt cō ­sanguinei li­tera absolut. vaenit Duc. 1 Caro. 9. disp 7. c 34. & disp. 6. c. 41. Bielin Can. Missae, lec. 57 the charge is one duc­kat and nine Carolus. Also Michael Medi­na a Doctor of note among our adver­saries, doth hold that the soules in Pur­gatory are vnder the Popes iurisdictiō. See also the wordes of Bonaventure al­leaged by Gabriel Biel. If any man main­taineth that the Vicar of Iesus Christ hath power of Iurisdiction over the dead, wee must not greatly contradict him. Thus our people are of contrary minds: but reason and practise are on Cayers side. Reason, because these words, to pardon informe of suffrage or intercession, beare no sense, besides that there is contradi­ction in them: for how is it possible to pardon a man by entreating for him? to pardon by forme of petition or in­tercession? hee that hath interceded to the king for a criminall person, will ne­ver say that he pardoned him: The same doth common practise convince: for what meaneth a pardon given to the soule by buls & patents sealed in forme [Page 203] of a decree? Doe wee not also reade in Maior and Wesselus, Maior in 4. Dist. 20. quaest. 2. Cle­mens, 6. In Bulla super Iubileo quod revocavit ad Annos, 50. that Clement the sixt commanded the Angels to transport into Paradice the soules of those that died in the voiage to the holy land? Nay more. Toward the end of the Councel of Lateran holden vnder Innocent the 3 yee shall find a Bull wherein he promi­seth to all chose that shall goe in the ex­pedition to the holy land, not only ple­nary remission of all their sinnes, but al­so an augmentation and higher degree of glory in the kingdome of heaven: but to such as would not goe them­selues, but send others at their charges, he granteth only remission of sinnes: yea he proceedeth so farre, as against the gainesayers of the iourney hee de­nounceth that they shall answer him in the day of iudgement: as if the Pope should then be iudge. In all this it ap­peareth that the Pope pretendeth to haue power over the dead. But what should we seeke for more proofe, whē Pope Sixtus the fourth, in a Bull set [Page 204] downe in the first booke of sacred cere­monies, in the chapter of the benedicti­on of the sword, vanteth that hee hath all power in heaven and in earth? The same degree is also attributed to Pope Leo the tenth in the last councell of La­teran. Sess. 9. & [...]0. Now if he assumeth to himselfe all power in heaven, where they haue nothing to do with him: how much rather over the soules in Purga­tory, which stand in neede of his Indul­gences? Finally, if the Pope giveth his pardon by suffrage, and in forme of petition or intercession, how can wee bee assured that God doth heare him? wheris the promise that in this case God wil heare him? or how in granting pardons to the dead [as when he granted to the soules of the Carmelites this privilege, that they should not stay in Purgatory any longer then vntil the next Saturday after their decease] is hee assured that God will like of this liberalitie? Thus much for this wofull distinction. Now let vs continue the course of our obie­ctions. [Page 205] 12 Sith the Pope affirmeth that he hath in the treasurie of the Church the workes and superabundant satisfac­tions of the Saints and Monkish Friers that haue done and suffered more then they should: who was his Collector to gather vp these workes and sufferings? Or whoe delivered them into the Popes custody? Either when? Also who gaue him the charge to distribute thē? Who taught him to bee a better hus­band then the high Priest in the old Te­stament, who [if we beleeue these men] suffered the superaboundant satisfacti­ons of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Iacob, Hilarius in Mat. 27. A­lienis operibꝰ & meritis. Io­seph, &c. to be lost? And sith the satisfa­ction of Iesus Christ was more then sufficient to redeeme vs, what neede we adde the satisfactions of Friers, Monks and Martyrs? Considering that if these Friers, Monks and Martyrs be in Para­dice, they haue already received infinit­ly more glory then ever they could de­serue or merit: and so they are supera­boundantly satisfied, and therefore can [Page 206] haue nothing left for the redemption of others.

Hereto the Frier maketh no answer, only he saith, I raue and am at the last cast: let vs therfore haue some hallow­ed graines, or one of the partes of S. Frances breeches, that thereby we may die in the state of grace. He also saith that the blood of Iesus Christ is suffici­ent to redeeme a thousand worlds: the the surplussage therefore of our Savi­ours merits, is not to be lost, but rather to bee laide vp in the treasury of the church.Pag. 108. Whereof it followeth that the blood of Iesus Christ and his merites, shared out into a thousand parts, the Pope hath remaining in his treasurie nine hundred, ninety and nine, besides the merits of Saints & Martyrs which he also saith are our redeemers: but hee tooke his marke amisse and deceiveth himselfe in thinking that part of the merites of Iesus Christ may serue for one soule and part for an other, & that so we may find a remainder of the me­rits [Page 207] of Iesus Christ: for as the light of the sunne shineth wholly here & whol­ly in an other place, and that there is light enough thereof for ten times so many as be there where it shineth: also that the voice of a man that speaketh, doth sound wholly in the eares of every one that heareth him: even so everie faithfull man is partaker in the whole merits of Iesus Christ: And were there foure faithful, yet should every of the faithfull stande in neede of the whole death of Iesus Christ, and of every part that he suffered: as also if there were ten times as many faithfull, yet should eve­ry of them finde in the death of Iesus Christ enough for his redemption. Al­so in as much as we haue merited an in­finite and eternal paine, it was requi­site we should haue a redemption of an infinite price. In the suffrings of Iesus Christ there was neither want nor su­perfluity: and therfore herein the Pope doth as much as if he should husbande and lay vp the overplus of the sun shine [Page 208] or of the voice. All the rest of my obie­ctions the Frier slippeth behind the hā ­gings.

But then commeth the Doctor Du Val to the rescue & laieth open his sub­tleties: yet doth he not tell vs who ra­ked vp these superaboundant sufferings of the Saints and Monkes: who com­mitted them into the Popes custodie: who autorised them to distribute thē for the redemption of paines due to others: when he received this autori­ty: or when he began this distribution. All this he passeth over quietly, as in­deed it were over much to enquire of. Marke therefore what he saith.Pag. 80. The Saints are rewarded in Paradice for their workes, so farre forth as they were merito­ry: but so farre forth as they were satisfa­ctorie, if any Saint hath sinned lesse and sa­tisfied more, this surplussage of satisfaction is not to be left: for the divine mercy and equity layeth it vp in the treasury of Indulgences. Therefore it serveth for others merits. He speaketh as if he should saie [Page 209] vnto me: See here is a house that cost two thousand crownes: also a prisoner that lieth in the Iayle for two thousand crownes: herevpon commeth a man with two thousand crownes, which he will make serue both to buy the house, and to redeeme the prisoner: but you will say: that cannot be: but the fire of Helie saith yes: and he findeth this ex­pedient for it: The crosse side of the mony shall buy the house, and the pyle side shall redeeme the prisoner: so shall it be acquisitory on the one side, and sa­tisfactory on the other. Even so [saith the Doctor] the merits of Saints doe purchase heaven, [and that is to buy it at an easie rate] and yet the same merits do stand for the payment and redemp­tion of others. Thus doth he dally with God and man, yet bringeth no proofe out of the word of God.

The same Doctor produceth a pas­sage out of the sixt of Iob, to proue that Saintes haue suffered more then they needed to satisfie to God for their sins. [Page 210] Oh that my sinnes and my miseries were laid togither in one ballance, False, my miseries would exceede my sinnes. By his favour this passage is false and in the Hebrew Originals it is not so, no neither in the Roman translation. In the Hebrew thus it is. Oh that that which provoketh me were well wayed, and that my breaking were laide togither in the ballance, for it woulde bee more heavy then the sand of the sea. The same doctor defendeth this treasure composed of the satisfactions both of Iesus Christ and of the Saints.Pag. 55. The Church [saith he] is a kingdome, then hath it a treasure. Iesus Christ in the 12 of Luke shall answere for me lay vp your treasure in heaven: thē not in the Popes coffers: neither is there in that place, neither in any other, any speech of In­dulgences. Againe if this Imaginarie treasure belongeth to the Church, why doe they sell to her that which is her owne? Why do they exhort the peo­ple to purchase the Indulgences, if they belong to them? for no mā buyeth that [Page 211] that is his owne. This doctor addeth. The Church is a spouse, why then doe they take from her that right that beseemeth her, which is this treasure composed of the merits & satisfactions of her master, with the satisfactions of the Saints? We an­swer that the church is indeed a spouse: but the spouse of Iesus Christ, not of Saints: for they also are the spouse: It belongeth to God the father of this spouse & to Iesus Christ her spouse to endow her, and he hath endowed her with celestiall and eternall goods: but admit the Saints were bound to en­dowe the Church: must the Pope ne­verthelesse be treasurer of this endow­ment? it would be dangerous: for in his Cannons hee tearmeth himselfe The spouse of the Church. And Bellarmin, Bell. l. 1. de Pontif. Rom. cap. 9. who writ at Rome with the Popes approba­tion, saith that The Pope is the spouse of the Church: etiam Christo secluso: even Iesus Christ beeing excluded and set a­side.

The same fire of Helie saith that in [Page 212] the old law they had a treasury in the Temple, where vpon he inferreth that the Church of Rome must also haue her treasury composed of the satisfacti­ons of Iesus Christ and his Saints. A gallant shift. But the Pope who hath sixe and twenty thousande crownes a day to spend; hath hee not a treasury of like substance as the temple of Salomon? Howbeit vpon Apostolicall simplicity on the day of his coronation he scatte­reth among the people batocchi & ba­gatini halfe pence and farthings:Lib. Cerem. sacrarum c. Of the Popes Co­ronation. saying with S. Peter Act. 3.6 Silver & gold I haue none, but such as I haue I giue thee. Let vs consider likewise what entereth into this spirituall treasury. Stripes, pilgri­mages, wallets, labours and travailes, with fasts superaboundant. What dreames? What husbandry? And al this to bee mixed with the merits of Iesus Christ: so well must they be accompa­nied. What shall we say of the prodigi­ous tearmes of their pardons, amoun­ting even to millions of yeares? Yea [Page 213] somtimes with manifest scorne, adding to the yeares so many monthes and so many daies, as if this people did very exactly calculat with God? And that this scorn may the better appeare, they grant pardons that giue plenary remis­sion and six thousand yeares to boot. See the very words of the book of Ro­man Indulgences printed at Rome by Iulius Accoltus, anno, 1570. In the moneth of February vpon Quinquagesima Sunday yee shall haue the stations at S. Peters, with plenary Indulgence and 28 thousand years of Indulgence, and as many Quarentines. Leo Bishop of Rome,Leo Papa ep. 89. who lived foure hundred yeares after Christ, had never learned this Arithmeticke: for he saith,Pag. 52. 53. let no man prescribe any measure, or define any time to the mercy of God. To this que­stion the Frier is stil, for (saith he) hee must preach vpon it this next lent. The fire of Helie having acknowledged some abuse in the excessiue length of these Indulgences (as indeed it is but a newe invention, and a testimony howe farre [Page 214] mans spirit will proceed, when God hath given it over) yet soone after hee vndertaketh their defence: and to that ende hee alleageth the sinne of Adam, the punishment whereof hath conti­nued aboue fiue thousand yeares. This he saith to confound himself. For if the Pope neither could, neither yet can re­mit to any this punishmēt, which hath continued aboue fiue thousand yeares, no nor exempt him any one day there­fro, how dare he presume without any autority of the Scriptures to exempt soules for some thousands of yeares from a tormēt infinitly more grievous? Besides wee haue already shewed that the calamitie and miseries of the world are not punishments for Adams sinne, but punishments for that the world ensueth the sinnes of Adam. The same doe we say of the Amalekites destroyed foure hundred yeares after their sinnes committed in the wildernesse: for albe­it God did againe call to mind the of­fence before committed, yet was there [Page 215] no man rooted out that had not well deserued it. But to what purpose is all this? What resemblance betweene the delaying of a punishment foure hun­dred yeares, and pardons for sixe hun­dred thousand yeares?

That which he addeth passeth all ab­surditie. Hee saith that the daughter of the Canaanite was afflicted with a divel in her infancie for the sin of Cham who died three thousand yeares before. He ought to haue produced his autor for this so lame a fable. By the way let him learne that if Cham died about the time of his brother Sem it was but eighteene hundred yeares or a little more, be­tweene his death and the birth of this daughter of Canaan, and thus was hee wide twelue hundred yeares in his cal­culation. Hee farther proceedeth and saith, That I mistake if I thinke that this great number of yeares should bee for Pur­gatory, for (saith he) they are for the pen­nances enioined by the Confessors or that should haue beene enioined, had they obser­ved [Page 216] the severitie of the ancient Cannons, &c. Wherein he counterfeiteth the ig­norant: for hee knoweth well enough that in the Church of Rome they doe hold that if any man in his life time hath not satisfied the pennance enioi­ned, hee must afterward finish this satis­faction in Purgatory: whereof it ensu­eth that the Pope releasing those pen­nances, doth also exempt from Purga­tory him who being by death prever­ted, had no time to accomplish them. Moreover if a man should gather togi­ther all the longest penances imposed by the ancient Canons, yet doe I think it vnpossible to draw them to amount to the summe of six hundred thousand yeares, which is the pardon purchased at Rome in the Church of S. Bibian vp­on Alhallon day. Surely this so long a tearme doth shew that this pardon is not a release for paines enioined only in this life, but also for the paines after this life. This doth Bellarmine teach in his first booke of Indulgences, Cap. 9. parag. Existit.

[Page 217]Finally hee alleageth Scripture to proue these Indulgences grāted to the dead. In the 20. of S. Iohn, Pag. 54. Iesus Christ saith to all his Disciples Whatsoever you shall lose vpon earth shall be losed in heauē. And then hee leaveth vs to conclude that the Pope may lose vnder the earth and fetch the soules out of Purgatory. And other as welfavored. In the first to the Corinthians the third Chapter, Let a man so thinke of vs as of the ministers of Christ, and disposers of the secrets of God. Then may the Pope giue Indulgences to the dead, as who should say, Masses for horses are wholsome: then is the Pope God vpon earth. Yee subtle Do­ctors that haue passed by the examen of Logick tell me in kindnesse, in what figure are these syllogismes? but they knowe well enough that these myste­ries whereof S. Paul speaketh are the doctrine of the Gospell. He addeth that S. Paul 2. Cor. 2. Released that which hee had enioyned to the Incestuous of Corinth. To what purpose is al this for papal Indul­gences [Page 218] & fetching of souls out of Pur­gatory? 1. The incestuous lived, these in Purgatory are dead. 2. S. Paule released that which himselfe had enioined [saith the doctor] but the Pope fetching the soules out of Purgatory, released that which he had not enioyned. 3. S. Paule remitted a sin to one whose repentāce he knew well. The Pope giveth Indul­gences to such as he knoweth not: as when vpon his coronation day hee di­stributeth pardons for some thousand yeares to the presse of people that is in S. Peters street.Cerem. Sacr. lib. 1. Sect. 2. cap. 3. 4. S. Paule never prescri­bed any tearme of ten or twenty thou­sand yeares: only after Excommunica­tion he received the penitent sinner in­to the Church againe. 5. S. Paule gaue no Indulgences by buls sealed in Au­tenticke māner: but to the penitent sin­ner he preached remission of his sinnes through Iesus Christ. 6. S Paule never added the clauses and cautions that the Pope doth: namely that such a pardon is given Manus porrigentibus adiutrices. [Page 219] To those that shal giue and contribute. [...]. S. Paule never tyed remission of sinnes [...]o any certain day, to any certain place, or to any certaine yeare, as the Pope doeth to the fiue and twentieth yeare, which he calleth Iubile. As if God were more mercifull in the yeare 1600 then he was in the yeare 1509 8. S. Paule di­stributed no hallowed graines, no hal­ [...]owed crosses or medalles, with a thousand such bables, as the Pope doth at this day, which wosoever weareth or kisseth, hee shal obtaine certaine hun­dred yeares of pardon. 9. S. Paule never cōsecrated any Agnus Dei that had ver­tue to purge sinne, as the Pope doth from seaven yeares to seaven yeares. 10. S. Paule never priviledged any par­sons that they should not go into Pur­gatory: or that they should come forth incontinently, as the Pope doth to the Carmelites and the fraternity of the Cord. 11. S. Paule receiving againe the incestuous that was cut of from the Church, never imposed any paines af­ter [Page 220] his reconciliation, but contented himselfe with that punishment that he had vndergone before his absolution. The Pope cōtrarywise pardoning sins, imposeth paines and in one selfe action first looseth and then bindeth againe. 12. S. Paule never reserved to himselfe only the autority to giue Indulgences and pardons, as knowing that Iesus Christ spake to al the Apostles and pa­stors, when he said Whatsoever yee shall binde on earth, shall bee bound in heaven. Mat. 18.18. Also whose sinnes you shall forgiue they shall be forgiven. Ioh. 20.23. Therefore also when he forgaue he cra­ved no leaue nor autority of Peter or of any other who had the only mana­ging of the treasure of the Church. 13. Lastly, S. Paul distributed not to the sin­ner any of the superaboundant merits or sufferings of the Saintes for the re­demption of his sin: for all his skil, and all his hope is in Iesus Christ crucified: neither doth hee tell vs of any other re­deemers. With what conscience then [Page 221] can they bring in the example of S. Paul to establish their Indulgences and the fetching of souls out of Purgatorie? As for mee who by these our Masters am provoked and challenged in so manie places: may not I now challenge them to shew me in al these oppositions that I haue exhibited, any correspondence betweene S Paule and the Pope? But they will not deale: this they will gently passe over, and in liew of reasons lay vp on me Invectiues and slāders enough. Cayer only hath bethought himselfe of a proofe for the fetching of soules out of Purgatory: that is, that vnder the law there was an altar of propitiation: as indeede the others are but dunces to him.

Here wee are to note wherein the principall abuse and heape of Impietie doth rest. That is that the Popes Indul­gences haue no community with the remission of sinnes propounded in the Gospell. For the faithfull pastours doe preach to the sinner, vpon his repen­tance, [Page 222] remission of sinnes, and in vertue of their ministery doe pronounce for­giuenesse of the same, inviting the sin­ner to participate in this grace, as here­haughts of the pardon purchased by Iesus Christ. But the Pope giveth his pardons kinglike, in letters patents sealed with lead in forme of decrees, & those letters dispatched in chancery. And the office of this chamber is far­med out at a very high rate:Poterit pon­tifex Indul­gentias con­cedere etiāsi nondum sit sacris ordinibus insignitꝰ Sess. 10. Im­perium san­ctitatis ve­strae, &c. Sess 9. R [...]ga­le Rom pont. genus Sess. 3. Papa Sacer­dos & Rex. Sess. 1. Prin­ceps totius Orbis. neither doth the Pope giue forth these pardōs as he is Bishop, or a preacher of the Gospell: for he not only preacheth not nor instructeth: but if a meere lay man that never receaued holy orders bee chosen Pope, he may confer Indulgen­ces, as we may see in the first booke of sacred ceremonies, and in Bellarmine, in his first book of Indulgences, cap. 11. Therfore likewise doth he weare three Crownes which he nameth his Tyare. Il regno: as also in the last Councell of Lateran he is named the king, Emperor and Prince of all the world.

[Page 223]Doctor Du Val goeth farther then al this, and saith that these be only fleabi­tings, and that I trouble my selfe with­out any ground in medling against the Pope. Thus in liew of vnknitting the knot, he cutteth it asunder: and holdeth the encroaching vpon the Maiestie of God; the establishing of a tyranny in the Church: and the setting to sale the remission of sinnes as it were marchan­dize, to be but small abuses and fleabi­tings. The Frier might haue done more wisely if hee had imitated his compani­on: Indeed in his running away he hath followed him and answered nothing to the premises: yet hee addeth a childish slaunder, saying: Du Moulin findeth abu­ses in Indulgences because they are given forth in writing, for he will haue them promulgated verbally. Who did ever heare such a folly? Or where spake I such a word? Lift vp your cowl good­man and learne to read, but not to slā ­der: his iniuries bring mee in minde of Hecuba, who was said togither with her [Page 224] estate, to haue lost her humane shape: and changed her speeches into how­lings and barkings: for this Observan­tine finding the overthrow of his cause cannot cease to barke.

Let vs now come out of this mat­ter, as out of a shop (for indeed it is all but trash and trafficke) and let vs requite these our masters and Doctors in que­stions, such as being handled in schools in Quodlibetary manner, may stand thē insteed of Purgations. 1. I will aske first where and when the Pope first gathe­red togither the merits and superabun­dant satisfactions of Saints, & Martyrs, and who gaue him commission to ga­ther together this treasure, or commanded them to gather vp these superero­gatory satisfactions for the redemptiō of the punishments due to other mens sinnes? 2. Secondly, who told him that God would accept of the ierkes and la­shes that a penitent giueth himselfe, or of the labours of S. Frances, or S. Domi­nicke, in payment or satisfaction for o­thers? [Page 225] Will a Iudge set a prisoner at li­bertie because some friend of his hath scourged himselfe or fasted for him? 3. Whether the pardons that the Pope giueth, without enioining any penance be of any force? as also those which he giueth with conditiō to work some wickednesse as in the yeares 1587 and 1588. when hee gaue seven yeares of pardon to every one that would ioine with the holy Vnion: that is to say, that would rebell against their king, yet he a Roman Catholike? 4. Againe, In as much as these superabundant satisfacti­ons of Saints are gathered together in­to the Popes treasurie (because God will haue nothing lost) how haue the superabundant satisfactions of such holy men as died vnder the old Testamēt, as Moses, Abraham, &c. beene husban­ded? be those also in the Popes treasury? But where were they laid vp before the Pope had them? Did they lie lurking in some corner two or three thousand yeares, vntill the Pope gathered them [Page 226] together and found meanes to employ thē? It were not amisse also to enquire the reason why the world in the yeare of Iubile maketh such hast to Rome, cō ­sidering that at Rome they may at all times obtaine millions of yeares of In­dulgences, and full remission of sinnes and some six hundred thousand yeares of plenary pardon. Aboue all we would gladly know when a man that needeth ten thousand yeares of pardon doth purchase enough for fiftie thousand yeares, what becommeth of the fortie thousand yeares that remaineth: Cayer saith that they returne into the treasu­rie for the good of others: but because his companions doe despise & disgrace him, wee would willingly bee taught by some substantiall Doctor, the rather for that at Rome and in one selfe place a man may obtaine, besides the plenary pardon, certaine thousands of yeares of surplussage: To what end may that sur­plussage serue? wil the Pope therewith pardon sins, & giue Indulgences by provision?

CAP. 6. That all the passages of holy Scripture by our adversaries quoted for prayer for the dead and for Purgatory are either false or vnprofitable.

IN all the Premises wee may see that our enimies fight but faintly & that they are armed but with strawes against the force of the truth: how much lesse shall they be able to do any thing when they shall be quite stripped, and that little armour that is left them, be cleane taken away? This is it which in this Chapter wee will with Gods helpe performe.

My adversaries therfore whose desire of gaine induceth them to practise Py­rotechny, doe heape together stubble good store, that is to say, simple proofs to kindle this fire of Purgatory. Of these [Page 228] proofes, some concerne prayer for the dead, and some Purgatory, some taken out of the old, some out of the new Te­stament: we will then without dissimu­lation propound them all, and for my part I will deale with thē with as much equitie and sinceritie as they haue dealt with me with fraud & vniustice, which consisteth in suppressing my best obie­ctions and corrupting the rest.

CAP. 7. That the Doctours of the foure first ages knew not Purgatory, with the refutation of the passages alleadged by our adversa­ries. Also the beginning and progresse of Purgatory, of prayer for the dead, of Indul­gences and satisfactions, &c.

OVR controversies do not cōsist only in cōtrariety of o­pinions but also in diversity of means to search out the truth. Our adver­saries wil haue the truth to be iudged by antiquity: we wil haue antiquity iudged by truth. They seeke to prooue the antiquity of their doctrine by the testimonies of men: we proue the truth of ours by divine testi­monies taken out of the holy Scrip­tures. The Antiquity that they pretend requireth infinit passages out of divers [Page 321] auctors:Tertul. in Marcionem lib. 1. Viva & Germana divinitas nec de novitate, nec de Vetustate sed de sua veritate cense­tur. the truth that we mainetaine may bee defended by one only passage of the holy Scripture. The way that we take is so much the shorter and better assured, because reasons in disputations are better then yeares: and the auctori­ty of God then the testimony of men. And which is more No man can denie but the truth is more ancient then the lie: for the lie is but a corruption of the truth: whereof it doth ensue that when a man hath proved the trueth of a do­ctrine, he hath also proved the antiqui­tie thereof. But contrarywise antiquity proved a man may neverthelesse doubt of the truth. For lying hath beene even from the beginning and is in a manner as ancient as the truth: which evē since the fall of Adam hath borne the divels contradictions who said, No, you shall not die. And that we may speake but of Christianitie, S. Paule, 2. Thess. 2.7. telleth vs that in his time the entrie of the son of perdition was prepared and the mi­sterie of iniquitie was in working. But [Page 322] if we guide our selues only by the time, what is there in the Church of Rome whereby shee may oppose against Iu­daisme or Paganisme? Againe, if pre­scription may haue place in Religion, let them tell vs how manie yeares maie suffice to auctorise a doctrine? Or how many testimonies of men shal we need to institute an article of faith? But wee say that lapse of time giveth no autori­tie to the gospell: also that the truth is of as great force alone as in companie: That for the decision of doubts we are to bring the ballance of reason, rather then the calculation of yeares. Yea I say that he that teacheth the truth but vnderproppeth it with the testimonies of men, in weening to establish it doth overthrowe it:Theod hom. Eccl. l. 1. c 7 a lie beeing no greater fault then such a defence of the truth. For it is as much as if a man shoulde arme himselfe with paper & taking vp strawes insteed of weapons, shoulde in this furniture expose himselfe to the power and mallice of the Divell. The [Page 323] worde of God naked is of more force then so armed.Synod. Con­stantinop. 6 Act. 1. Propositis in medio sacro­sanctis Evangeliis. In that regard did the auncient Church in the beginning of their Synodes lay nothing vpon the ta­ble but the books of holie scripture: but our adversaries haue great interest not to be content with this simplicity: for e­ven in the beginning a number of que­stions should be decided, considering that in the Romish Church they con­fesse that they teach many things wherof they haue neither commaundement nor example in the holy scripture: As Invocation of Saints: worshipping of Images: praying in a lāguage vnknown to him that praieth: Priestes vowes and single life: Elevation and adoration of the Sacrament, &c. Therefore do they seeke a farther way about, and having wrested the holie scripture out of Lay mens hands, they crie out the fathers, nothing but the fathers: in liew of the soveraigne father, which is God: whō neverthelesse they do at euerie oppor­tunitie hit handsomelie over the thōbs: [Page 324] and when these ancient doctors do cō ­tradict each other in the explication of the scriptures [as manie times they do] these our Masters take vpon them to be the moderatours and iudges in their contrary opinions: allowing sometime one and reproving somtimes an other, and sometimes reiecting all and bring­ing in some explication more to the Popes availe. They will graunt the fa­thers to be our iudges, but with provi­so that the Church of Rome shal iudge of the Fathers. Let anie man reade the writings of the Iesuits, Maldonat, Gre­gorie of Valentia, or Bellarmine, and he shall see that I say the truth.

This māner of disputation is to thē more cōmodious, as giving thē meanes in their need to find a starting hole: for it is an infinite field, a bottomlesse sea, a thicke darcknesse wherein to shrowde themselues; as seeking only how to ca­vill and delay their plea. For among so manie auctors as might fill a house it is an easie matter to finde somewhat to [Page 325] wrest to a mans owne advantage, and never to be perceived, because few mē haue these books, & of them that haue them few do read them, and of those that read them fewest of all doe vnder­stand them: for the fathers ordinarilie are repugnant among themselues, and not only among themselues, but everie man in himselfe, and do retract & con­fesse his ignorance. Yea I dare say there is never an heresie, howsoeuer extrava­gant, for the which wee cannot finde some especiall passages in some of the doctors: besides these divers ages haue retained the ancient words, but altered the doctrine: as also the phrase of many of them is obscure & subiect to sundrie interpretations: besides that many v­suall words haue altered their significa­tions. As these, Indulgences, satisfacti­on, Pope, Bishopricke, aulter, oblation, sacrifice, merit, station, sacrament, ex­communication, pennance: words ex­tant in many auctors, but in an other sense then in these daies: and yet it is an [Page 326] easie matter to make thē passe for such, as at this day wee take them, and in re­garde of the resemblance of the marke, to perswade men that they are of the same substance. Moreover if any Do­ctor hath forgotten him selfe or hath vsed any difficult tearmes, these wil our adversaries stand vpon, and vse them to their most advātage: therin resembling such beasts as can liue vpon serpents,At Paris by Nivel. in S. Iames Street at the storcks 1571. Ex sanctiss. concilii Trid. Decreto ve­terum patrū Codices sunt expurgendi Cum in Ca­tholicis vete­ribus pluri­mos feramus erreres, & extenu [...]mus, excusemas excogitato per saepe negem [...]. or beetles: or Cham who discovered his fathers shame. But the greatest incon­venience is that the copies are divers & discordant, mangled and falsified, yea & so farre as to haue some tracts of other men suggested and inserted into them: wherevpon I remember that I propoū ­ded to the frier the preface to the last edition of S. Augustine, wherin our ma­sters the correctors doe confesse that they haue changed some things and ta­ken forth the errours intruded by the malice of hereticks: that is to say, al that mislike them: and in plaine tearms they say that The bookes of the ancient fathers [Page 327] must bee purged according to the decree of the tridentine Councell, and to the same purpose I alleadged the Confession of the doctors of Doway in their Expurga­tory Index in the letter.The Index is printed at Antw. by Plantin 1571. by autority of K. Phil. & the D Alua. B. where spea­king of the purging of the book of Ber­tram, they say thus. Considering that in all other Catholick autors we beare with many errors, which we do extenuat, shake of, and often times, excogitato commento, de­ny by some faigned Invention, and do in­sert into them some commodious sense, wee see no reason wherefore Bertram deserveth not the like equity, and the same diligent review. And this was the place where the Monke said that Excogitatum Com­mentum signified a Commentary. But in this booke page 1. Hee saith that it is an explication devised contrary to the text. Thus doth he confesse that it is his occupation to bring in such explicati­ons, vnlesse hee should shrinke from the vnion of those purgers auctorised by his holinesse.

Here might I alleadge a great heape [Page 328] of falsifications brought in by these correctors, albeit we know not the hū dred part. Yet are we greatly to praise God, who hath not suffered them to compasse their intents: but among the fathers hath yet left vs sufficient wea­pōs to fight with the Church of Rome: And that is it that in this chapter wee are to produce: yet with this protesta­tion, that I alleadge not the doctors & fathers, as meaning vpon their auctori­ties to hang the truth of my cause: but to shew how our adversaries doe abuse them and make them to speake manie things contrary to their owne opiniōs. I take them not to bee advocates in my cause: but am my selfe their advocate: For Iesus Christ Iohn. 5.14. telleth vs that he craveth not the testimonies of men, neither doth his word neede their witnesse. The truth that those good men haue spoken we do beleeue, not because they spake it, but because wee finde it in the word of God. And this is the reason that I reserved this tract to [Page 329] the end, least I shoulde mixe divine au­ctority with humane. This is a chapter rather not superfluous then necessarie: which we giue not to the necessity of the matter, but to the stiffneckednesse of the age, wherein the holy scripture is growne into suspition: and men opē their cares when wee speake of Origen, Ambrose, Tertullian, &c. But stop them when we speake of the Prophets or Apostles.Bellarm. de verbo Dei. lib. 4. cap. 12 The holy Bible [say they] is a booke for hereticks: a sword for all hands: a pecce of a rule: a forrest of for­raging: yea, saith the autor of the three truths It will make a man become an Atheist.