This is it, that their Rochester ingenuously confessed of old, That this purgatory flame came but lately to the knowledge of the Church: but, for us, that of St. Paul shall never be wrung from our hands; 'Eàv ý èπiyeιos, If, or when, this earthly house shall be dissolved, we have a building, not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens; 2 Cor. v. 1. And, when is this St. Paul's ἐὰν? St. John shall interpret it: ἀποθνήσκοντες ἀπάρτι, those that die, à modo, from henceforth; Apoc. xiv. 13. And when is this à modo? To-day, thou shalt be with me, saith Christ; Luke xxiii. 43. even instantly, upon the egress of the soul. Let them commend their souls to God, saith St. Peter; 1 Pet. iv. 19. But what of that? That which doth utterly quench out this fabulous fire, the counterfeit Solomon (though true to the Papists) adds, "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them;" Wisd. iii. 1. Behold, then, either the souls without a purgatory, or a purgatory without pain. But what stick we at this? Let the Popish Doctors together agree among themselves, of the fire of their purgatory, of the torments of the subject, of the duration, of the executioners, of the condition of the souls there detained; and then, afterwards, let them look for our assent. In the mean time, why is it not as free for us, as for Suarez, not to believe the walking ghosts of the dead, but metaphorically? or, why may not we as well deny the ordinary common Purgatory, as Bellarmin may devise a new one, more noble and easeful than the first? (6.) Purgatory is guilty of Indulgences, as their Rochester confesses. Both of them were bred by superstition, and nursed by covetousness. I touch these with a light hand only. It is long, since all ingenuous clients of Rome were ashamed of this holy fraud. I cannot but commend Cassander, which writes thus modestly and truly: "The abatement or relaxation of canonical punishments, was of old called Indulgence: which, at this day, is drawn to all private satisfactions; and the full right of bestowing them withdrawn from all other Bishops, to the Bishop of Rome alone. About the use and practice whereof, all good men have desired a correction and moderation; as of things, which, being hitherto ill handled, have given the chief occasion of this breach in the Church. Here, therefore, it were to be wished, that the Popes would yield something to the public peace." Thus far Cassander. With whom agrees Polydore Virgil: both of them more worthy of a black coal, than their honest Rochester, whom Gregory of Valence hath so foully branded. Neither hath there wanted some of their own, as Tom. 4. in Th. 9. d. 46. Hoc illud est, quod Roffensis noster ingenuè, Flammam hanc serò Ecclesiæ cognitam fuisse: nobis verò extorqueri è manibus non potest illud Pauli; Cùm terrena hæc domus fuerit dissoluta, habere nos in cœlis ædificium axeipоπоíηтоv; 2 Cor. Quando autem illud (éàv) Pauli? Joannes interpretabitur: άπáρт ȧπойνýσкоνтея; Apoc. xiv. 13. Quando demum illud ȧnáρT? Hodie, inquit Christus; Luc. xxiii. 43. vel ab animæ egressu. Commendent animas suas Deo, inquit Petrus ; 1 Pet. iv. 19. Sed quid inde? Quod extinguet prorsus commentitium hunc ignem, commentitius ille Salomon (Pontificiis genuinus), Aikalov δὲ ψυχαὶ ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἅψηται αὐτῶν βάσανος; Sap. iii. 1. Ecce, vel animas absque purgatione, vel purgationem absque dolore. At quid nos ista moramur? Agedum: coeant in unum Pontificii doctores: conveniant inter se de situ sui purgatorii, de cruciatibus, de subjecto, de duratione, de tortoribus, de animarum inibi detentarum conditione; et dein nostrum post illa assensum præstolentur. Interea temporis, quin liberum nobis sit, cum Suarez, vagis defunctorum manibus non credere, nisi metaphoricè? et non minus Purgatorium illud plebeium denegare, quàm Bellarmino aliud novum admittere nobile ac senatorium? (6.) Reum est Indulgentiarum Purgatorium, fatente Roffensi. Utrumque peperit superstitio, aluit avaritia. Leviore manu istas tango. Diu est, ex quo ingenuos quosque Romæ alumnos puduit hujus piæ fraudis. Amo hîc Cassandrum, qui sic modestè, et verè: "Pœnarum Canonicarum imminutio, et relaxatio, olim Indulgentia dicebatur: quæ hodie ad privatas quasque satisfactiones traducta est; et ab Episcopis, ad solum Romanum Pontificem, plenum Indulgentiarum tribuendarum jus delatum. Circa quarum usum et praxin, optimi quique correctionem et moderationem fieri desiderârunt; ut quæ, parùm dexterè tractatæ, hujus dilacerationis Ecclesiæ præcipuam occasionem dedêre. Hic optandum esset, ut Pontifices publicæ paci aliquid concedant." Hactenus Cassander. Cui etiam concinit Polyd. Virgilius: nigro carbone dignior uterque, quàm bonus ille Roffensis, quem malè notavit Valentianus. Nec defuêre è suis, Bellarmino teste, a Bellar. de Purg. 1. ii. c. 7. Gr. Val. de Indulg. c. 4. Cap. de Indulg. Bellarmin witnesseth, which have called both the treasure of the Church, and pardons, into question. Neither have there wanted those, which have boldly and flatly denied them, either to be of use, or to be at all. And, indeed, who, that is not too much intoxicate with the potions of that harlot, can endure, that, whilst the imputation of Christ's merits to the justifying of a sinner, applied by God to us, is everywhere a common scoffing-stock to these men; yet, that the merits and sufferings of holy men, out of a certain common treasure, should by a man be imputed to men, for the deliverance of their souls from torment? Who can abide, that any mortal man should over-satisfy God for his sins? Who can abide the prodigal grants, and shameful marts, of their pardons? Who can endure to hear, that to the careless mumbling over of some short prayers (for if we believe their Casuists, there is no great need of any intention of mind, of any special devotion) there should be granted, by John 22nd, a pardon for no less than a million of years. Who can endure, since by their own confession this fire must last but till the conflagration of the world, that yet, in one little book, there should be tendered unto credulous poor souls, pardons of but eleven thousand thousand of years? What should we make many words of this? There is now lying by me a wormeaten manuscript, with fair rubrics, in which, beside other absurd and blasphemous promises, there is power given to one little prayer to change the pains of hell, due perhaps to him that says it, into purgatory; and, after that again, the pains of purgatory into the joys of heaven. Bellarmin had wisely respected his own credit, if he had given his voice according to that, which he confesseth to have been the judgment of some others; That theselike bulls were not given by the Popes, but lewdly devised by some of his base questuaries, for an advantage. But that, which he should excuse, he defends. What ingenuity or shame is to be expected of Jesuits? and how clean hath an old parrot, as he said of old, forgotten the wand! Who may abide this unjust and inhuman acceptation of persons? that the wealthier sort may, by their purses, redeem this holy treasure of the Church; and, by money, deliver the souls of themselves and their friends from this horrible prison: while the needy soul must be still frying in that flame, without all hope of pardon, or mature relaxation, until the very last Judgment Day? Lastly, who can endure, that, while it is in the power of Christ's Vicar to call miserable souls out of this tormenting fire, Stat. Rom. Rhythmic. . Horæ. B. Virg. qui et Thesaurum Ecclesiæ, et Indulgentias, in discrimen vocârint. Nec defuerunt, qui vel esse, vel prodesse, audacter negare ausi. Et sanè, quis, non nimium philtris illius meretricis ebriolatus, ferat, ut, cùm imputatio meritorum Christi ad peccatoris justitiam, nobis à Deo facta, passim inter illos deridiculo sit; merita tamen et passiones hominum sanctorum, è communi quodam thesauro, ad levandas animarum pœnas ab homine imputentur? Quis ferat, ut mortalium aliquis satis superque faciat Deo? Quis ferat prodigas indulgentiarum concessiones, et nundinationes turpissimas? Quis ferat precularum quarundam supinæ obmurmurationi (neque enim opus est, si Casuistis credimus, vel intentione animi, vel devotione) concessam, à Joanne XXII, annorum decies centenorum millium Indulgentiam®. Quis ferat, cùm non ultra mundi conflagrationem sævire hanc flammam posse autument, uno tamen libello paulò minùs quàm annorum undecies mille millenorum Indulgentiam, credulis devotisque animis offerri? Quid multis? Præ manibus mihi est liber manuscriptus, membranaceus, carie tineisque erosus, in quo, præter alias absurdissimas blasphemasque pollicitationes, uni perbrevi oratiunculæ facultas datur, infernales pœnas, recitanti forte debitas, in purgatorias commutandi; postmodùm verò purgatorias, in summa coeli gaudia. Consuluisset sibi probè Bellarminus, si, quod aliis quibusdam visum fatetur, ipse suo probâsset calculo", Bullas hasce non à Pontificibus datas, sed à quæstuariis potiùs aloxpoκépdws confictas. Sed quis candor Jesuitis? quámque senex psittacus, quod ille olim, nescit ferulam! Quis ferat inhumanam hanc προσωποληψίαν ? ditiores ut loculis redimere possint sacrum hunc Ecclesiæ thesaurum; animasque suas et suorum è diro hôc carcere nummis liberare: dum indigentiores quique, absque omni spe veniæ, maturæve relaxationis, ad extremum usque diem torqueantur? Denique, quis ferat, ut, cùm penes Christi Vicarium sit, miseras animulas ab igne cruciatorio, quem solâ æternitate superare Hora B. Mar. Virg. ad usum Sarisb. ↳ Lib. de Indulg. which hell itself is said to exceed only in the continuance; yet, that he should suffer them to lie howling there, and most cruelly broiling still, and not mercifully bestow on them all the heaps of his treasure, as the spiritual ransom of so many distressed spirits? A wretched man is he, as Ambrose said of the rich man, which hath the power to deliver so many souls from death, and wants the will. Why hath God given him this faculty of Indulgences, if he would not have it beneficial to mankind? And, where the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly. Let that Circe of Rome keep these husks for her hogs. (7.) Pardons do both imply and presuppose that known distinction of Mortal and Venial Sin; which neither hath God ever allowed; neither, while he gainsays it, will ever the Pro testants. That there are certain degrees of evil, we both acknowledge and teach so as we may here justly tax the dishonesty and shamelessness of Campion, Dureus, Coccius, and the Monks of Bourdeaux, who have upbraided us with the opinion of a certain Stoical and Jovinianish parity of sins: yea, Bellarmin himself hath already done this kind office for us. Some offences are more heinous than other; yet all, in the malignity of their nature, deadly: as, of poisons, some kill more gently and lingeringly, others more violently and speedily; yet both kill. Moreover, if we have respect unto the infinite mercy of God; and, to the object of this mercy, the penitent and faithful heart; there is no sin, which, to borrow the word of Prudentius, is not venial: but, in respect of the anomy or disorder, there is no sin which is not worthy of eternal death. Every sin is a viper. There is no viper, if we regard the nature of the beast, but kills whom she bites: but, if one of them shall haply light upon the hand of Paul, she is shaked into the fire, without harm done. Let no man fear that harmful creature ever the less, because he sees the Apostle safe from that poison. So is sin to a faithful man. St. John's word is, All sin is avopía, transgression of the Law; 1 John iii. 4. St. Paul's word is, The wages of sin is death; Rom. vi. 23. Put these two together, and this conceit, of the natural pardonableness of sin, vanishes alone. Our Rhemists, subtle men, can no more abide this proposition converted, than themselves. "All sin indeed," say they, "is avopía, a transgression of the Law; but every transgression of the Law is not sin." The Apostle, therefore, himself turns it for us: All unrighteousness, saith he, is sin; 1 John v. 17. "But every avouía is unrighteousness," saith Austin upon the Amb. de Nabothe. (s. 7.) * Chrys. vel, Auth. operis imperfect. |