Rome, that the children of God, presently after their departure out of this life, are cast into a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, be not a spice of this disease; and whether their practice in chanting of psalms (appointed for the expression of joy and thankfulness), over them whom they esteem to be tormented in so lamentable a fashion, be not a part of that scene and pageant at which St. Chrysostom doth so take on; I leave it unto others to judge. That his fear was not altogether vain, the event itself doth shew. For, howsoever in his days the fire of the Romish purgatory was not yet kindled : yet were there certain sticks then a gathering, which ministered fuel afterwards unto that flame. Good St. Augustine, who then was alive, and lived three and twenty years after St. Chrysostom's death, declared himself to be of this mind; that the oblations and alms usually offered in the Church "for" all the dead that received baptism, were thanksgivings for such as were very good, propitiations for such as were not very bad; but as for such as were very evil, although they were no helps of the dead, yet were they some kind of consolations of the living." Which although it were but a private exposition of the Church's meaning in her prayers and oblations for the dead; and the opinion of a doctor too, that did not hold purgatory to be any article of his creed; yet did the Romanists in times following greedily take hold thereof, and make it the main foundation, upon which they laid the hay and stubble of their devised purgatory.

A private exposition I call this: not only because it is not to be found in the writings of the former fathers, but also because it suiteth not well with the general practice of the Church, which it intendeth to interpret. It may indeed fit in some sort that part of the Church service, wherein there was made a several commemoration, first, of

" Cum sacrificia, sive altaris sive quarumcunque eleemosynarum, pro baptizatis defunctis omnibus offeruntur, pro valde bonis gratiarum actiones sunt, pro non valde malis propitiationes sunt ; pro valde malis, etsi nulla sunt adjumenta mortuorum, qualescunque vivorum consolationes sunt. Augustin. enchirid. ad Laurent. cap. I10.

the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, after one manner; and then of the other dead, after another: which, together with the conceit that "an" injury was offered to a martyr, by praying for him," was it that first occasioned St. Augustine to think of the former distinction. But in the "supplications" for the spirits of the dead, which the Church under a general commemoration was accustomed to make, for all that were deceased in the Christian and catholic communion;" to imagine that one and the same act of praying should be a petition for some, and for others a thanksgiving only, is somewhat too harsh an interpretation: especially where we find it propounded by way of petition, and the intention thereof directly expressed, as in the Greek liturgy, attributed to St. James the brother of our Lord; "Be mindful, O Lord God of the spirits and of all flesh, of such as we have remembered, and such as we have not remembered, being of right belief, from Abel the just until this present day. Do thou cause them to rest in the land of the living, in thy kingdom, in the delight of paradise, in the bosoms of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, our holy fathers; whence grief and sorrow and sighing are fled, where the light of thy countenance doth visit them, and shine for ever:" and in the offices compiled by Alcuinus; "O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and everlasting God, we

w

Augustin. de verbis apostoli. serm. 159. op. tom. 5. pag. 765.

* Id. ibid. et in evang. Johann. tractat. 84.

Non sunt prætermittendæ supplicationes pro spiritibus mortuorum: quas faciendas pro omnibus in Christiana et catholica societate defunctis, etiam tacitis nominibus quorumque, sub generali commemoratione suscepit Ecclesia. Id. de cura pro mortuis, cap. 4.

2 Μνήσθητι, κύριε ὁ θεὸς τῶν πνευμάτων καὶ πάσης σαρκὸς, ὧν ἐμνήσε θημεν, καὶ ὧν οὐκ ἐμνήσθημεν, ὀρθοδόξων, ἀπὸ ̓Αβὲλ τοῦ δικαίου μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας. αὐτὸς ἐκεῖ αὐτοὺς ἀνάπαυσον ἐν τῆ βασιλείᾳ σου, ἐν τῇ τρυφῇ τοῦ παραδείσου, ἐν τοῖς κόλποις ̓Αβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ιακώβ, τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἡμῶν. ὅθεν ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη, λύπη καὶ στεναγμὸς. ἔνθα ἐπισκοπεῖ τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου σου, καὶ καταλάμπει διὰ παντὸς. Jacob. liturg.

a Te, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, supplices deprecamur pro spiritibus famulorum et famularum tuarum, quos ab origine seculi hujus ad te accersire præcepisti: ut digneris, Domine, dare eis locum lucidum, locum refrigerii et quietis; et ut liceat eis transire portas infernorum, et vias tenebrarum,

humbly make request unto thee for the spirits of thy servants and handmaids, which from the beginning of this world thou hast called unto thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe, O Lord, to give unto them a lightsome place, a place of refreshing and ease, and that they may pass by the gates of hell, and the ways of darkness, and may abide in the mansions of the saints, and in the holy light which thou didst promise of old unto Abraham and his seed."

So the commemoration of the faithful departed, retained as yet in the Roman missal, is begun with this orison: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord: and let everlasting light shine unto them." Whereunto we may add these two prayers, to omit a great number more of the like kind, used of old in the same Church: "Receive, O holy Trinity, this oblation, which we offer unto thee for all that are departed in the confession of thy name: that, thou reaching unto them the right hand of thy help, they may have the rest of everlasting life; and, being separated from the punishments of the wicked, they may always persevere in the joy of thy praise:" and, "This oblation, which we humbly offer unto thee for the commemoration of the souls that sleep in peace, we beseech thee, O Lord, receive graciously; and of thy goodness grant, that both the affection of this piety may profit

maneantque in mansionibus sanctorum, et in luce sancta quam olim Abrahæ promisisti et semini ejus. Alcuin. offic. per ferias, col. 228. oper. edit. Paris. ann. 1617.

b Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Introitus missæ, in commemoratione omnium fidelium defunctorum. Agenda mortuorum, in Antiphonario Gregorii, circa finem. op. tom. 3. pag. 725.

c Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem, quam tibi offerimus pro omnibus in tui nominis confessione defunctis: ut, te, dexteram auxilii tui fporrigente, vitæ perennis requiem habeant; et a pœnis impiorum segregati, semper in tuæ laudis lætitia perseverent. Missa Latina antiqua, edit. Argentin. ann. 1557. pag. 52.

d Hanc igitur oblationem, quam tibi pro commemoratione animarum in pace dormientium suppliciter immolamus, quæsumus, Domine, benignus accipias; et tua pietate concedas,, ut et nobis proficiat hujus pietatis affectus, et illis impetret beatitudinem sempiternam. Offic. Gregorian. tom. 3.oper. Gregor. Liturg. Pamelii, tom. 2. pag. 610. et præfation. vetust. edit. Colon. ann. 1530. num. 111.

us, and obtain for them everlasting bliss." Where you may observe, that the souls unto which everlasting bliss was wished for, were yet acknowledged to rest in peace, and consequently not to be disquieted with any purgatory torment even as in the canon of the mass itself, the priest in the commemoration for the dead prayeth thus; "Remember, O Lord, thy servants and handmaids, which have gone before us with the ensign of faith, and sleep in the sleep of peace. To them, O Lord, and to all that are at rest in Christ, we beseech thee that thou wouldest grant a place of refreshing, light, and peace."

Nay, the Armenians in their liturgy entreat God to "give eternal peace," not only in general" unto all that have gone before us in the faith of Christ;" but also in particular to the patriarchs, apostles, prophets, and martyrs which maketh directly for the opinion of those, against whom Nicolaus Cabasilas doth dispute, who held, that these commemorations contained "a supplication for the saints unto God," and not a thanksgiving only; as also do those forms of prayer, which were used in the Roman liturgy in the days of pope Innocent the third: "Leth such an

e Memento etiam, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum, qui nos præcesserunt cum signo fidei, et dormiunt in somno pacis. Ipsis, Domine, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus, locum refrigerii, lucis et pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur. Canon. missæ, in officio Ambrosiano et Gregoriano, et missali Romano. In Græca tamen liturgia B. Petro attributa, pro commemoratione defunctorum posita hic cernitur commemoratio viventium. Ενταῦθα ἀναφέρει rovs Lavras. et in vetustissimis quibusdam Romanis missalibus manuscriptis, hæc mortuorum commemorationis formula nusquam extat: P. Vireto teste lib. 5. de adulterat. Cœn. Dom. et missæ myster. cap. 48. ac nominatim in vetustissimo canone Gregoriano, qui in Tigurinæ abbatiæ bibliotheca habebatur, ex authentico libro bibliothecæ cubiculi descriptus; apud Henric. Bullinger. lib. 2. de origine erroris, cap. 8.

f Per hanc etiam oblationem da æternam pacem omnibus, qui nos præcesserunt in fide Christi, sanctis patribus, patriarchis, apostolis, prophetis, martyribus, &c. Liturg. Armen. edit. Cracovia, Andrea Lubelczyck interpr.

8 ̓Αλλ ̓ ἐνταῦθα τινὲς ἠπατήθησαν οὐκ ἐυχαριστίαν ἀλλ ̓ ἱκεσίαν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁγίων πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὴν μνήμην αὐτῶν εἶναι νομίσαντες. Cabasil. exposit. liturg. cap. 49.

h Prosit vel proficiat, huic sancto vel illi, talis oblatio ad gloriam. Innocent. III. epist. ad archiep. Lugdun. lib. 3. decretal. tit. 41. de celebrat. missar. cap. 6. Cum Martha.

oblation profit such or such a saint unto glory:" and especially that for St. Leo, which is found in the elder copies of the Gregorian sacramentary; "Grant unto us, O Lord, that this oblation may profit the soul of thy servant Leo;" for which the later books have chopt in this prayer; "Grant unto us, O Lord, that by the intercession of thy servant Leo this oblation may profit us." Concerning which alteration, when the archbishop of Lyons propounded such another question unto pope Innocent, as our challenger at the beginning did unto us: "Who' it was that did change it, or when it was changed, or why?" the pope returneth him for answer: "That" who did change it, or when it was changed, he was ignorant of; yet he knew, upon what occasion it was changed: because that where the authority of the holy Scripture doth say, that he doth injury unto a martyr who prayeth for a martyr, (which is a new text of holy Scripture, of the pope's own canonization), the same by the like reason is to be held of other saints." The gloss upon this decretal layeth down the reason of this mutation a little more roundly: "Of" old they prayed for him, now at this day he prayeth for us; and so was the change made." And Alphonsus° Mendoza telleth us, that the old prayer was deservedly disused, and this other substituted in the room thereof; "Grant unto us, we beseech thee, O Lord, that by the intercession of thy servant Leo this oblation may

¡ Annue nobis, Domine, ut animæ famuli tui Leonis hæc prosit oblatio. Gregor. oper. tom. 3. pag. 111.

* Annue nobis, Domine, ut intercessione famuli tui Leonis hæc nobis prosit oblatio. Liturg. Pamelii, tom. 2. pag. 314.

1 Tertio loco tua fraternitas requirit, quis mutaverit, vel quando fuit mutatum, aut quare, quod in secreta beati Leonis, secundum quod antiquiores codices continent, &c. Innocent. III. in collect. 3. decretal. Petri Beneventani lib. 3. tit. 33. cap. 5.

m Super quo tibi taliter respondemus: quod quis illud mutaverit, aut quando mutatum fuerit, ignoramus; scimus tamen, qua fuerit occasione mutatum. quia cum sacræ scripturæ dicat auctoritas, quod injuriam facit martyri, qui orat pro martyre idem est ratione consimili de sanctis aliis sciendum. Ibid.

n Olim orabatur pro ipso: hodie ipse orat pro nobis ; et ita mutatum est. Cap. Cum Marthæ, extra. de celebr. missar. in glossa.

Alphons. Mendoz. controvers. theolog. quæst. 6. scholastic. num. 7.