that purpose; and they were holy: There was nothing Exorcized, to drive away Phantasmes.
The same Moses (the civill Soveraigne of Israel) when he consecrated Aaron (the High Priest,)
and his Sons, did wash them with Water, (not Exorcized water,) put their Garments upon
them, and anointed them with Oyle; and they were sanctified, to minister unto the Lord in the
Priests office; which was a simple and decent cleansing, and adorning them, before hee
presented them to God, to be his servants. When King Solomon, (the civill Soveraigne of
Israel) consecrated the Temple hee had built, (2 Kings 8.) he stood before all the Congregation of Israel; and having blessed them, he gave thankes to God, for putting into the heart of his
father, to build it; and for giving to himselfe the grace to accomplish the same; and then
prayed unto him, first, to accept that House, though it were not sutable to his infinite
Greatnesse; and to hear the prayers of his Servants that should pray therein, or (if they were
absent,) towards it; and lastly, he offered a sacrifice of Peace-offering, and the House was
dedicated. Here was no Procession; the King stood still in his first place; no Exorcised Water;
no Asperges me, nor other impertinent application of words spoken upon another occasion; but a decent, and rationall speech, and such as in making to God a present of his new built House,
was most conformable to the occasion.
We read not that St. John did Exorcize the Water of Jordan; nor Philip the Water of the river
wherein he baptized the Eunuch; nor that any Pastor in the time of the Apostles, did take his
spittle, and put it to the nose of the person to be Baptized, and say, In odorem suavitatis, that is, for a sweet savour unto the Lord; wherein neither the Ceremony of Spittle, for the
uncleannesse; nor the application of that Scripture for the levity, can by any authority of man
be justified.
The immortality of mans Soule, not proved by Scripture to be of Nature, but of Grace.
To prove that the Soule separated from the Body, liveth eternally, not onely the Soules of the
Elect, by especiall grace, and restauration of the Eternall Life which Adam lost by Sinne, and
our Saviour restored by the Sacrifice of himself, to the Faithfull; but also the Soules of
Reprobates, as a property naturally consequent to the essence of mankind, without other grace
of God, but that which is universally given to all mankind; there are divers places, which at the
first sight seem sufficiently to serve the turn: but such, as when I compare them with that
which I have before (Chapter 38.) alledged out of the 14 of Job, seem to mee much more
subject to a divers interpretation, than the words of Job.
And first there are the words of Solomon ( Ecclesiastes 12. 7.) Then shall the Dust return to Dust, as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it. Which may bear well enough (if there be no other text directly against it) this interpretation, that God onely knows, (but Man
not,) what becomes of a mans spirit, when he expireth; and the same Solomon, in the same
Book, (Chap. 3. ver. 20, 21.) delivereth the same sentence in the sense I have given it: His
words are, All goe (man and beast) to the same place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again; who knoweth that the spirit of Man goeth upward, and that the spirit of the Beast goeth
downward to the earth? That is, none knows but God; Nor is it an unusuall phrase to say of
things we understand not, God Knows what, and God Knows where. That of Gen. 5. 24. Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him; which is expounded Heb. 13. 5. He was translated, that he should not die; and was not found, because God had translated him. For
before his Translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased God, making as much for the
Immortality of the Body, as of the Soule, proveth, that this his translation was peculiar to them
that please God; not common to them with the wicked; and depending on Grace, not on
Nature. But on the contrary, what interpretation shall we give, besides the literall sense of the
words of Solomon ( Eccles. 3. 19.) That which befalleth the Sons of Men, befalleth Beasts, even one thing befalleth them; as the one dyeth, so doth the other; yea, they have all one breath
(one spirit;) so that a Man hath no prœeminence above a Beast, for all is vanity. By the literall sense, here is no Naturall Immortality of the Soule; nor yet any repugnancy with the Life
Eternall, which the Elect shall enjoy by Grace. And (chap. 4. ver. 3.) Better is he that hath not yet been, than both they; that is, than they that live, or have lived; which, if the Soule of all them that have lived, were Immortall, were a hard saying; for then to have an Immortall
Soule, were worse than to have no Soule at all. And againe, (Chapt. 9. 5.) The living know
they shall die, but the dead know not any thing; that is, Naturally, and before the resurrection of the body.
Another place which seems to make for a Naturall Immortality of the Soule, is that, where our
Saviour saith, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living: but this is spoken of the promise of
God, and of their certitude to rise again, not of a Life then actuall; and in the same sense that
God said to Adam, that on the day hee should eate of the forbidden fruit, he should certainly
die; from that time forward he was a dead man by sentence; but not by execution, till almost a
thousand years after. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive by promise, then, when Christ
spake; but are not actually till the Resurrection. And the History of Dives and Lazarus, make
nothing against this, if wee take it (as it is) for a Parable.
But there be other places of the New Testament, where an Immortality seemeth to be directly
attributed to the wicked. For it is evident, that they shall all rise to Judgement. And it is said
besides in many places, that they shall goe into Everlasting fire, Everlasting torments,
Everlasting punishments; and that the worm of conscience never dyeth; and all this is
comprehended in the word Everlasting Death, which is ordinarily interpreted Everlasting Life in torments: And yet I can find no where that any man shall live in torments Everlastingly. Also, it seemeth hard, to say, that God who is the Father of Mercies, that doth in Heaven and Earth
all that hee will; that hath the hearts of all men in his disposing; that worketh in men both to
doe, and to will; and without whose free gift a man hath neither inclination to good, nor
repentance of evill, should punish mens transgressions without any end of time, and with all
the extremity of torture, that men can imagine, and more. We are therefore to consider, what
the meaning is, of Everlasting Fire, and other the like phrases of Scripture.
I have shewed already, that the Kingdome of God by Christ beginneth at the day of Judgment:
That in that day, the Faithfull shall rise again, with glorious, and spirituall Bodies, and bee his
Subjects in that his Kingdome, which shall be Eternall: That they shall neither marry, nor be
given in marriage, nor eate and drink, as they did in their naturall bodies; but live for ever in
their individuall persons, without the specificall eternity of generation: And that the Reprobates
also shall rise again, to receive punishments for their sins: As also, that those of the Elect,
which shall be alive in their earthly bodies at that day, shall have their bodies suddenly
changed, and made spirituall, and Immortall. But that the bodies of the Reprobate, who make
the Kingdome of Satan, shall also be glorious, or spirituall bodies, or that they shall bee as the
Angels of God, neither eating, nor drinking, nor engendring; or that their life shall be Eternall
in their individuall persons, as the life of every faithfull man is, or as the life of Adam had been if hee had not sinned, there is no place of Scripture to prove it; save onely these places
concerning Eternall Torments; which may otherwise be interpreted.
From whence may be inferred, that as the Elect after the Resurrection shall be restored to the
estate, wherein Adam was before he had sinned; so the Reprobate shall be in the estate, that
Adam, and his posterity were in after the sin committed; saving that God promised a
Redeemer to Adam, and such of his seed as should trust in him, and repent; but not to them
that should die in their sins, as do the Reprobate.
Eternall Torments what.
These things considered, the texts that mention Eternall Fire, Eternall Torments, or the Worm
that never dieth, contradict not the Doctrine of a Second, and Everlasting Death, in the proper and naturall sense of the word Death. The Fire, or Torments prepared for the wicked in
Gehenna, Tophet, or in what place soever, may continue for ever; and there may never want
wicked men to be tormented in them; though not every, nor any one Eternally. For the wicked
being left in the estate they were in after Adams sin, may at the Resurrection live as they did,
marry, and give in marriage, and have grosse and corruptible bodies, as all mankind now
have; and consequently may engender perpetually, after the Resurrection, as they did before:
For there is no place of Scripture to the contrary. For St. Paul, speaking of the Resurrection (1
Cor. 15.) understandeth it onely of the Resurrection to Life Eternall; and not the Resurrection to Punishment. And of the first, he saith that the Body is Sown in Corruption, raised in
Incorruption: sown in Dishonour, raised in Honour; sown in Weaknesse, raised in Power; sown
a Naturall body, raised a Spirituall body: There is no such thing can be said of the bodies of them that rise to Punishment. So also our Saviour, when hee speaketh of the Nature of Man
after the Resurrection, meaneth, the Resurrection to Life Eternall, not to Punishment. The text
is Luke 20. verses 34. 35, 36. a fertile text. The Children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they that shall be counted worthy to obtaine that world, and the Resurrection
from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more; for
they are equall to the Angels, and are the Children of God, being the Children of the
Resurrection: The Children of this world, that are in the estate which Adam left them in, shall marry, and be given in marriage; that is, corrupt, and generate successively; which is an
Immortality of the Kind, but not of the Persons of men: They are not worthy to be counted
amongst them that shall obtain the next world, and an absolute Resurrection from the dead;
but onely a short time, as inmates of that world; and to the end onely to receive condign
punishment for their contumacy. The Elect are the onely children of the Resurrection; that is to
say, the sole heirs of Eternall Life: they only can die no more: it is they that are equall to the
Angels, and that are the children of God; and not the Reprobate. To the Reprobate there
remaineth after the Resurrection, a Second, and Eternall Death; between which Resurrection, and their Second, and Eternall death, is but a time of Punishment and Torment; and to last by
succession of sinners thereunto, as long as the kind of Man by propagation shall endure; which
is Eternally.
Answer of the Texts alledged for Purgatory.
Upon this Doctrine of the Naturall Eternity of separated Soules, is founded (as I said) the
Doctrine of Purgatory. For supposing Eternall Life by Grace onely, there is no Life, but the Life
of the Body; and no Immortality till the Resurrection. The texts for Purgatory alledged by
Bellarmine out of the Canonicall Scripture of the old Testament, are first, the Fasting of David for Saul and Jonathan, mentioned (2 Kings, 1. 12.); and againe, (2 Sam. 3. 35.) for the death of Abner. This Fasting of David, he saith, was for the obtaining of something for them at Gods hands, after their death; because after he had Fasted to procure the recovery of his owne
child, assoone as he knew it was dead, he called for meate. Seeing then the Soule hath an
existence separate from the Body, and nothing can be obtained by mens Fasting for the Soules
that are already either in Heaven, or Hell, it followeth that there be some Soules of dead men,
that are neither in Heaven, nor in Hell; and therefore they must bee in some third place, which
must be Purgatory. And thus with hard straining, hee has wrested those places to the proofe of
a Purgatory: whereas it is manifest, that the ceremonies of Mourning, and Fasting, when they
are used for the death of men, whose life was not profitable to the Mourners, they are used for
honours sake to their persons; and when tis done for the death of them by whose life the
Mourners had benefit, it proceeds from their particular dammage: And so David honoured Saul, and Abner, with his Fasting; and in the death of his owne child, recomforted himselfe, by
receiving his ordinary food.
In the other places, which he alledgeth out of the old Testament, there is not so much as any
shew, or colour of proofe. He brings in every text wherein there is the word Anger, or Fire, or Burning, or Purging, or Clensing, in case any of the Fathers have but in a Sermon rhetorically applied it to the Doctrine of Purgatory, already beleeved. The first verse of Psalme, 37. O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath, nor chasten me in thy hot displeasure: What were this to
Purgatory, if Augustine had not applied the Wrath to the fire of Hell, and the Displeasure to that of Purgatory? And what is it to Purgatory, that of Psalme, 66. 12. Wee went through fire and water, and thou broughtest us to a moist place; and other the like texts, (with which the Doctors of those times entended to adorne, or extend their Sermons, or Commentaries) haled
to their purposes by force of wit?
Places of the New Testament for Purgatory answered.
But he alledgeth other places of the New Testament, that are not so easie to be answered: And
first that of Matth. 12. 32. Whosoever speaketh a word against the Sonne of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not bee forgiven him
neither in this world, nor in the world to come: Where he will have Purgatory to be the World to come, wherein some sinnes may be forgiven, which in this World were not forgiven:
notwithstanding that it is manifest, there are but three Worlds; one from the Creation to the
Flood, which was destroyed by Water, and is called in Scripture the Old World; another from
the Flood, to the day of Judgement, which is the Present World, and shall bee destroyed by
Fire; and the third, which shall bee from the day of Judgement forward, everlasting, which is
called the World to come; and in which it is agreed by all, there shall be no Purgatory: And therefore the World to come, and Purgatory, are inconsistent. But what then can bee the
meaning of those our Saviours words? I confesse they are very hardly to bee reconciled with all
the Doctrines now unanimously received: Nor is it any shame, to confesse the profoundnesse
of the Scripture, to bee too great to be sounded by the shortnesse of humane understanding.
Neverthelesse, I may propound such things to the consideration of more learned Divines, as
the text it selfe suggesteth. And first, seeing to speake against the Holy Ghost, as being the
third Person of the Trinity, is to speake against the Church, in which the Holy Ghost resideth; it
seemeth the comparison is made, betweene the Easinesse of our Saviour, in bearing with
offences done to him while hee himselfe taught the world, that is, when he was on earth, and
the Severity of the Pastors after him, against those which should deny their authority, which
was from the Holy Ghost: As if he should say, You that deny my Power; nay you that shall
crucifie me, shall be pardoned by mee, as often as you turne unto mee by Repentance: But if
you deny the Power of them that teach you hereafter, by vertue of the Holy Ghost, they shall
be inexorable, and shall not forgive you, but persecute you in this World, and leave you
without absolution, (though you turn to me, unlesse you turn also to them,) to the
punishments (as much as lies in them) of the World to come: And so the words may be taken
as a Prophecy, or Prædiction concerning the times, as they have along been in the Christian
Church: Or if this be not the meaning, (for I am not peremptory in such difficult places,)
perhaps there may be place left after the Resurrection for the Repentance of some sinners:
And there is also another place, that seemeth to agree therewith. For considering the words of
St. Paul (1 Cor. 15. 29.) What shall they doe which are Baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why also are they Baptized for the dead? a man may probably inferre, as some have done, that in St. Pauls time, there was a custome by receiving Baptisme for the dead, (as men
that now beleeve, are Sureties and Undertakers for the Faith of Infants, that are not capable of
beleeving,) to undertake for the persons of their deceased friends, that they should be ready to
obey, and receive our Saviour for their King, at his coming again; and then the forgivenesse of
sins in the world to come, has no need of a Purgatory. But in both these interpretations, there
is so much of paradox, that I trust not to them; but propound them to those that are throughly
versed in the Scripture, to inquire if there be no clearer place that contradicts them. Onely of
thus much, I see evident Scripture, to perswade me, that there is neither the word, nor the
thing of Purgatory, neither in this, nor any other text; nor any thing that can prove a necessity
of a place for the Soule without the Body; neither for the Soule of Lazarus during the four days
he was dead; nor for the Soules of them which the Romane Church pretend to be tormented
now in Purgatory. For God, that could give a life to a peece of clay, hath the same power to
give life again to a dead man, and renew his inanimate, and rotten Carkasse, into a glorious,
spirituall, and immortall Body.
Another place is that of 1 Cor. 3. where it is said, that they which built Stubble, Hay, &c. on the true Foundation, their work shall perish; but they themselves shall be saved; but as
through Fire: This Fire, he will have to be the Fire of Purgatory. The words, as I have said before, are an allusion to those of Zach. 13. 9. where he saith, I will bring the third part through the Fire, and refine them as Silver is refined, and will try them as Gold is tryed: Which is spoken of the comming of the Messiah in Power and Glory; that is, at the day of Judgment,
and Conflagration of the present world; wherein the Elect shall not be consumed, but be
refined; that is, depose their erroneous Doctrines, and Traditions, and have them as it were
sindged of; and shall afterwards call upon the name of the true God. In like manner, the
Apostle saith of them, that holding this Foundation Jesus is the Christ, shall build thereon some other Doctrines that be erroneous, that they shall not be consumed in that fire which reneweth
the world, but shall passe through it to Salvation; but so, as to see, and relinquish their former
Errours. The Builders, are the Pastors; the Foundation, that Jesus is the Christ; the Stubble and Hay, False Consequences drawn from it through Ignorance, or Frailty; the Gold, Silver, and pretious Stones, are their True Doctrines; and their Refining or Purging, the Relinquishing of their Errors. In all which there is no colour at all for the burning of Incorporeall, that is to say, Impatible Souls.
Baptisme for the Dead, how understood.
A third place is that of 1 Cor. 15. before mentioned, concerning Baptisme for the Dead: out of which he concludeth, first, that Prayers for the Dead are not unprofitable; and out of that, that
there is a Fire of Purgatory: But neither of them rightly. For of many interpretations of the
word Baptisme, he approveth this in the first place, that by Baptisme is meant
(metaphorically) a Baptisme of Penance; and that men are in this sense Baptized, when they
Fast, and Pray, and give Almes: And so Baptisme for the Dead, and Prayer for the Dead, is the
same thing. But this is a Metaphor, of which there is no example, neither in the Scripture, nor
in any other use of language; and which is also discordant to the harmony, and scope of the
Scripture. The word Baptisme is used ( Mar. 10. 38. & Luk. 12. 50.) for being Dipped in ones own bloud, as Christ was upon the Cross, and as most of the Apostles were, for giving
testimony of him. But it is hard to say, that Prayer, Fasting, and Almes, have any similitude
with Dipping. The same is used also Mat. 3. 11. (which seemeth to make somewhat for
Purgatory) for a Purging with Fire. But it is evident the Fire and Purging here mentioned, is the
same whereof the Prophet Zachary speaketh (chap. 13. v. 9.) I will bring the third part
through the Fire, and will Refine them, &c. And St. Peter after him (1 Epist. 1. 7.) That the triall of your Faith, which is much more precious than of Gold that perisheth, though it be tryed with Fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the Appearing of Jesus Christ; and St. Paul (1 Cor. 3. 13.) The Fire shall trie every mans work of what sort it is. But St. Peter, and St. Paul speak of the Fire that shall be at the Second Appearing of Christ; and the Prophet
Zachary of the Day of Judgment: And therefore this place of S. Mat. may be interpreted of the
same; and then there will be no necessity of the Fire of Purgatory.
Another interpretation of Baptisme for the Dead, is that which I have before mentioned, which
he preferreth to the second place of probability: And thence also he inferreth the utility of
Prayer for the Dead. For if after the Resurrection, such as have not heard of Christ, or not
beleeved in him, may be received into Christs Kingdome; it is not in vain, after their death,
that their friends should pray for them, till they should be risen. But granting that God, at the
prayers of the faithfull, may convert unto him some of those that have not heard Christ
preached, and consequently cannot have rejected Christ, and that the charity of men in that
point, cannot be blamed; yet this concludeth nothing for Purgatory, because to rise from Death
to Life, is one thing; to rise from Purgatory to Life is another; as being a rising from Life to
Life, from a Life in torments to a Life in joy.
A fourth place is that of Mat. 5. 25. Agree with thine Adversary quickly, whilest thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver
thee to the Officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. In which Allegory, the Offender is the Sinner; both the Adversary and the Judge is God; the Way is this Life; the Prison is the Grave; the Officer, Death; from which, the sinner shall not rise again to life eternall, but to a second Death, till he have paid the utmost farthing, or Christ pay it for him by his Passion,
which is a full Ransome for all manner of sin, as well lesser sins, as greater crimes; both being
made by the passion of Christ equally veniall.
The fift place, is that of Matth. 5. 22. Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause, shall be guilty in Judgment. And whosoever shall say to his Brother, RACHA, shall be guilty in
the Councel. But whosoever shall say, Thou Foole, shall be guilty to hell fire. From which words he inferreth three sorts of Sins, and three sorts of Punishments; and that none of those sins,
but the last, shall be punished with hell fire; and consequently, that after this life, there is
punishment of lesser sins in Purgatory. Of which inference, there is no colour in any
interpretation that hath yet been given of them: Shall there be a distinction after this life of
Courts of Justice, as there was amongst the Jews in our Saviours time, to hear, and determine
divers sorts of Crimes; as the Judges, and the Councell? Shall not all Judicature appertain to
Christ, and his Apostles? To understand therefore this text, we are not to consider it solitarily,
but jointly with the words precedent, and subsequent. Our Saviour in this Chapter interpreteth
the Law of Moses; which the Jews thought was then fulfilled, when they had not transgressed
the Grammaticall sense thereof, however they had transgressed against the sentence, or
meaning of the Legislator. Ther