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great Multitudes after them; yet they ftill retained and their Succeffors to this Day, the Doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Chrift; the Real Prefence, and Tranfubftantiation, the Invocation of Saints, and Prayers and Sacrifice for the Repofe or Reft of the Souls of the Faithful departed; which is an evident Sign that all these Points were Part of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church before they separated from it, the General Councils who condemn'd faid Hereticks having never branded them for this Doctrine or Practice. St. James heard Chrift pronounce thefe Words: Whofoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven bim neither in this World, nor in the World to come. Matth. 12. 32, He therefore concluded, that there were fome Sins to be forgiven in the World to Come. He heard him fay alfo: Agree with thine Adverfary quickly, whilst thou art in the Way with him: Left at any Time the Adverfary deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer, and thou be caft into Prifon. Verily I fay unto thee, thou shalt by no Means come out thence till thou haft paid the laft Farthing. Matth. 5. 25. 26. He heard Chrift fay many other things that are not recorded in Scripture, in Relation to the Doctrine which he and the reft of the Difciples were to deliver to the Faithful, and to the Practice they were to obferve. These St. James deliver'd as a facred Depofitum to the Church of Jerufalem, of which he was the firft Bifhop; and his Succeffors to their Succeffors in a Traditionary Form, till Confiantine the Great gave Peace to the whole Catholick Church; and it was then that this Doctrine and Practice were reduced to Writing; and for

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as much as it was the Doctrine and Practice deliver❜d by this Apoftle to the Church of Ferufalem, it has ever fince carried the Name of the Liturgy of St. James.

St. Mark and St. Clement heard Saint Peter preach the fame Doctrine, and use the fame Practice in Rome. St. Clement, or fome other Apoftolical Man of his Age, or of the next, reduced the fame to writing under the Title of the Apoftolical Conftitutions, out of which this Liturgy that goes under his Name was afterwards Compiled; and was the firft that appeared in Writing St. Mark, being fent by St. Peter to Egypt, founded the Church of Alexandria, and deliver'd the faid Doctrine and Practice to the Faithful, and to his Succeffor in a Traditionary Form, as did all the Churches founded by all the Apoftles, till the Days of the Emperor Confantine. All the other Liturgies now extant, were compiled after the Model of thefe three Apoftolical One's, viz. St. Clement's, St. James's and St. Mark's; and even the latest of them was reduced to writing, in the Form it now ftands, before the latter End of the fifth Century: Yet there is not one of them all, which does not recommend to the Faithful to pray for the Repofe or Reft of the Souls of those who died in the Communion of the Church.

This I humbly conceive, My Lord, is fufficient to evince, that tho' the Apostles did not under Pain of Damnation teach the Churches to believe the Word Purgatory; yet that they taught them under Pain of Damnation to believe the Doctrine which we mean by Purgatory, viz. That the Souls who have not fully expiated the Guilt of their Sins in this World, nor made due

Satisfaction, and died with a true Sorrow, and with the Peace of the Church, are detained in a Place, in Pain, wanting Repofe or Reft, till they are purged of the Drofs of their Sins, like Gold tryed in the Fire; either by the Prayers and Sacrifices of the Church, or by the Alms, and Prayers of their Friends on Earth, or by the Pain which they fuffer. However, let us fee, my Lord, what the primitive Fathers thought of this Doctrine and Practice.

I fhall begin with a Paffage taken out of St. Cyril of Jerufalem's fifth Myflagogical Catechifm, made English by Dr. Brett, and Cited before upon another Occafion:

"But then (faith this Father) when we have finifhed the Spiritual Sacrifice, the unbloody "Worship in that Propitiatory Sacrifice, we pray to God for the common Peace of the Church, for the Tranquility of the World, "for Kings, for the Armies, and thofe that "fight with them, for the Sick and Afflicted; "and, in a word, we pray to thee for all that "need Affiftance, and offer this Sacrifice unto "thee. Then we alfo make Mention of those "who are at Reft before us: First the Patri"archs, Prophets, Apoftles, Martyrs, that God "through their Prayers and Supplications would "receive our Prayers: Then we pray for the "deceased Fathers and Bishops. Lastly, for all "thofe that once lived with us, and are now departed; believing it to be a great Benefit "unto their Souls for whom Prayer is made, "whilft the Holy and Tremendous Sacrifice lies , before us.

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Which I will fhew you by an Example. "For I know that many fay, what fignifies it to

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a Soul to be Mentioned in our Prayers, whe "ther it went out of the World with Sins or "without? For if any King fhould fend into "Banishment those who have offended him, "but afterwards fome of their Friends making "a Crown, fhould offer it to him in behalf of "those that are thus punished; would he not be difpofed to remit their Punishment? In like "Männer we offering Prayers for the Dead, al"though they were Sinners, do not make a Crown, but offer Chrift, who is the Lover of "Men, gracious and propitious both to them " and ourselves. "

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St. Gregory Nyffen. in his Oration for the Dead, confirms this Doctrine: A Man (fays he) is purged of his Sins either in this prefent Life by Prayer, and the Love of Wisdom, ar after Death expiates them by the Furnace of a purging Fire, if he would return to his former Happinefs. And alittle after: No Man can, when be leaves his Body, be Partaker of the Divinity, except a purging Fire fhall take away the Spots imprinted on his Soul.

St. Hilary, holds the fame Language upon thefe Words of the Pfalm 118: Concupivit Anima mea defiderare Judicia fuftitia tua : "Nobis (fays be) eft ille indefeffus Ignis obe"undus, in quo fubeunda funt gravia illa expi-' "anda a Peccatis Anime Supplicia." We muft undergo that incefjant Fire, in which the grievous Punishments of the Soul must be endured in order to attone for our Sins.

St. Jerome to the fame Purpofe in the End of his Commentary upon the Prophet Ifaias: "Sicut (fays be) Diaboli et omnium Negatorum atque Impiorum, qui dixerunt in Corde fuo,!

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non eft Deus, Credimus æterna Tormenta, "fic Peccatorum atque Impiorum, et tamen "Chriftianorum, quorum Opera in Igne pro"banda atque purganda funt, moderatam arbi"tramur, et mixtam Clementiæ fententiam Ju"dicis." As we believe, that the Devils, and all Atheists and wicked Men, who faid in their Hearts, there is no God, muft fuffer eternal Torments, so we fuppofe that the Sentence of the Fudge pronounced againft Sinners, and impious Chriftians whofe Works are to be tryed and purged by Fire, fhall be temper'd and mix'd with Clemency.

St. Autin de Cura pro Mortuis, Cap. 1. Confirms this Doctrine; " In Machabaorum Libro

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(fays be) legimus oblatum pro Mortuis Sacri"ficium, fed et fi nufquam in Scripturis veteri"bus legeretur, non parva eft univerfæ Ecclefix,

que in hac Confuetudine claret, Authoritas; "Ubi in Precibus Sacerdotis, quæ Domino Deo "ad ejus Altare funduntur, Locum fuum habet "etiam Commendatio Mortuorum." We read in the Book of the Machabæes that Sacrifice was offer'd for the Dead. But tho' we should read it no where in the old Scripture, yet the Authori ty of the univerfal Church, which shines in this Cuftom is not little, where, in the Prayers of the Prieft, which are put up to our Lord God at his Altar, the Commendation of the Dead bath it's Place. And again. Homily 16. de 50. "Hæc "Pana illos manebit, qui amiffo et non reparato

per Pænitentiam Baptifmo, in æternum peri"bunt. Ad quos dicitur. Paleas autem comburet Igni inextinguibili. Hi verò qui temporalibus Panis digna gefferunt, de quibus Apofto. lus dicit,* Si cujus opus arferit, Detrimentum patietur

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