Of the Church fiue bookes. By Richard Field Doctor of Diuinity and sometimes Deane of Glocester.

§. 2.

IN the next place hee commeth to Augustine, whom he saith; I haue likewise abused. The words wherein the supposed abuse is offered vnto him, are these. The Romish manner of praying for the dead hath no certaine testimony of antiquity, for no man euer thought of Purgatory till Augustine, to avoide a worse error, did doubtingly runne 〈◊〉〈◊〉: after whom many in the Latine Church embraced the same opinion; but the Greeke Church neuer receiued it to this day. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 inwhich words he saith: I note the temerity; irresoluti∣on, and folly of Augustine: the Reader, I doubt not, will note his temerity and folly, in * 1.1 censuring me thus without a cause: for I note not Saint Augustine for temerity, nor make him the Author of a new fancy, as hee falsely chargeth mee▪ but shew, that, whereas there were very dangerous opinions in the Church in his time; tou∣ching the state of the departed, (many of great esteeme thinking that men dying in mortall sinne, and adjudged to hell, shall in the end come out thence and be saued▪ hee

sought to qualifie the matter in the best sort hee could, with least offence vnto them, and to bring them from that error, and therefore sayth, b 1.2 If they would acknow∣ledge the punishments of such to be eternall, and thinke onely that they may bee mitigated or suspended for a time, or that men dying in the state of grace, yet in some lesser sinnes are af∣flicted for a time in the other world, (though he know not whether these things be so or not) yet he would not striue with them. This is not to be the author of a new fancy; but, in hope to reclaime men from a great extremity, to leaue something lesse dangerous in the same kind, doubtfull: and this is all that I say of Saint Augustine; neither is this my priuate fancy: but the Graecians, in that learned Apology before mentioned, haue the same obseruation, to wit, that hee wrote not those things which hee hath touching Purgatory, out of a certaine perswasion, and as vndoubtedly holding them to be true: but as it were in a sort inforced, and for the avoiding of a greater euill, which was this, that there is a purging of all sinnes after death, as some then thought. So that as it see∣meth, thinking it something a violent course, directly to go against the opinion of ma∣ny; and fearing, his words would not seeme probable, if whereas others thought all sins may be purged out after death, he on the contrary side should say none may be purged, hee chose rather to goe in a middle way not contradicting that which is lesse absurd, and inconuenient: (that so he might more easily bring them he had to deale with from that which was farre more inconuenient,) then too much to exasperate thē. This was the apprehension the Grecians had of Augustines writings touching this point: which whosoeuer shall without any sinister affection peruse, will find to bee righte and true. Touching irresolution, it was farre from Augustine in matters pertaining to the rule of faith: but in other things, wherein men may bee ignorant and doubtfull, and dissent one from another; without danger of eternall damnation: no man was more slow to re∣solue; no man more inclined to leaue things doubtfull. But howsoeuer, that hee was doubtfull and vnresolued in the points concerning the state of the dead, it is euident in that he sayth: c 1.3 If they, whose mercifull error he refuteth, would onely thinke, the paynes of them that are in hell to bee mittigated, or suspended: hee would not greatly striue about it: though, I am well assured, hee would not willingly haue resolued, that these things are so. The like may be sayd touching the temporall affliction of good men dying in the state of grace, but yet with some lesser sinnes: for hee was euer doubtfull concerning the same: and neuer resolued that they are vndoubtedly in a state of temporall afflictions, as Maister Higgons vntruly d 1.4 reporteth, and thence infer∣reth many things childishly against mee: but that they are in a state wherein prayers may auaile thē: which two things are very different. For the Graecians in their Apolo∣gy, before cited, admit remission of sinnes after this life, and yet deny that there is any estate of temporall affliction. And I haue shewed before, how sinnes may be sayd to bee remitted after this life in the enterance into the other world, without admitting Purgatory-punishmēts. But it cannot be excused that I say, Augustine fearefully oppo∣sed himselfe against the error of thē, who thought all right-beleeuing Christians, how wickedly soeuer they liued, shall in the end bee saued. Surely the Graecians said as much before, and are in good hope to be excused: and therefore I am in some hope that I may be also: for I do not say that he so feared any thing, as to conceale any truth he was thorowly resolued of, and which hee held necessary to be knowne of all: but that he feared to offend them hee dealt with, farther than of necessity hee must: and therefore resolued to yeeld to them as farre as possibly hee might, without impugning knowne and resolued truthes, they being many and of great esteeme, that were other∣wise minded, then he was. Thus haue I no way wronged S^t Augustine, but done him the the greatest right I could: for I haue shewed, that he impugned not onely the error of Origen, touching the saluation of all, euen the Diuell and his Angels, and of such as thought that all men, or at least all Christian men though Heretickes and Schisma∣tickes, shal in the end be saued: but of them also that thought only that all right-belee∣uing Christians shall be saued how wickedly soeuer they liue: affirming, that noe such thing may be yeelded, and yet professing himselfe doubtfull touching the mitigation and suspension of their paines for a time, as also whether men dying in the state of

grace, and yet with some lesser sinnes, bee afflicted for a time, and after deliuered. So that hee brought the conceit concerning the saluation by fire and punishment, of men departing hence in the state of sinne, from that exceeding large extent, to this straite: assuring himselfe more might not be yeelded, and professing he knew not whe∣ther so much might or not. And therefore hee was the author of this limitation, that the errour should not be so dangerous; but not of the errour it selfe, touching the saluation of men dying in the state of sinne: which no way tendeth to his disgrace; but to his commendation.

But Master Higgons will proue e 1.5 that hee was not the first that fell into the opinion of this Purgatory, of men dying in the state of grace; first out of the Magdeburgians, and secondly out of the testimonies of sundry Fathers, teaching the same Purgatorie before Augustine, as he pretendeth: To the Magdeburgians it may be answered in a word, that they speake of the Purgatorie of such as departe hence in mortall sinne, when they attribute the errour of Purgatory, to Origen and others before Augustines time. For Origen made all punishments, euen those of the Diuell and Damned ones, to be but Purgatory-punishments: and therefore that they say is nothing to our pur∣pose. Wherefore let vs see what testimonies of Fathers, before Augustine, Master Higgons canne produce, for confirmation of his supposed Purgatorie. The first hee bringeth is Saint f 1.6 Basil, who writing vpon those wordes of Esay, Iniquity shall •…•…ee burned as fire, and deuoured of the fire as any grasse, and burned vp in the thicknesse of the wood, and againe, all the earth shall bee set on fire in the furious and fierce wrath of the Lord; and all the people shall be as it were burned by fire: First sheweth, that iniquity may fitly be compared vnto grasse, the generation whereof is infinite, in that sinne be∣getteth and succeedeth it selfe, fornication, fornication, lying, lying: and so in the rest. Secondly, that if wee reueale and make bare our sinne by confessing and acknowled∣ging it, we make it like drie grasse, fitte to bee deuoured and consumed by the pur∣ging fire: but that, if it become not like drie grasse, it shall not bee deuoured by the fire. Thirdly hee interpreteth the thicknesse of the wood to bee men darkned in their cogitations, and keeping many euills in the secret of their hearts. Fourthly, whereas it is said, the earth is set on fire by the fierce wrath of the Lord, hee saith the Prophet meaneth, that earthly things are deliuered to the punishing fire, for the good of the soule: according to that of the Lord, I come to send fire into the earth, and my desire is, that it be kindled assoone as may bee. Fifthly, hee sheweth, that whereas the Prophet saith, The people shall be burned as with fire, he threatneth not destruction, but promi∣seth purgation: according to that of the Apostle, If any mans worke burne, &c. Heere indeede mention is made of purging-fire; but it is the fire of tribulation in this world, and of diuine affections which it kindleth, for the consuming and burning vppe of the sinnes of them, that acknowledge them, and make them bare by feeling & confessing how displeasing they are to God: whereas otherwise it worketh no such effect. But heere is no word, nor circumstance, whence it may be collected, that Basil speaketh of any Purgatory after this life; nay it is plaine, he speaketh of that fire, which Christ came to bring into the world, and to cast out vpon the earth, and which hee desired to bee kindled, as soone as might bee: which things, I thinke are not appliable to Po∣pish Purgatorie. g 1.7 The Scripture, saith Gregorie Nazianzene, mentioneth a purging-fire, which CHRIST came to send into the earth, and himselfe anagogically is called fire: the nature of this fire, is to waste and consume away the grosser matter, and vitious disposition of the minde: and therefore CHRIST desireth to haue it kindled as soone as may bee, that wee may haue the benefit of it: which I thinke can hardly bee vnderstood of Purga∣torie, vnlesse we suppose CHRIST wisheth vs all to be in those torments with speed. Nicetas writing vpon Nazianzene, expoundeth the purging-fire hee speaketh of, to be loue, and faith towards God, which purge our soules from sinne, and ignorance, & diuide the godly, from the vngodly and vnbeleeuers. Another fire Nazianzene saith there is, which is not a purging, but a reuenging fire; whether it bee that Sodomiti∣call fire, which, mixed with brimstone & tempest, God powreth on the heads of sin∣ners: or that which goeth before the face of the Lord, and burneth vp his enemies on

euery side: or lastly, that which is more horrible then all these, which is ioyned with the restlesse worme, and which neuer goeth out. So that wee see neither Gregory, nor Nicetas, knew any thing of the Papists Purgatory-fire after this life, mentioning all the kindes of fire that are spoken of in Scripture, and omitting it cleane. To Basill M^r Higgons addeth, h 1.8 Eusebius Emissenus, who was more auncient then hee. But his owne i 1.9 friends will tell him, these Homilies which he citeth, that goe vnder his name, are none of his: but that they were collected out of the Latine Fathers by Beda or some other: the sentence doubtlesse which he citeth, is found word for word in Augustines Homilie vpon the Epiphanie. But howsoeuer the Author of these Homilies seemeth to speake of a trying fire, through which all must passe, & not of the Papists imagined Purgatory. The next testimony he bringeth, is out of Gregory Nyssen; but as the Grae∣cians in their Apologie note, they are not well advised that alledge Gregory Nyssen to * 1.10 this purpose; seeing he speaketh not of a particular purging of some, but of a generall restoring of all: of which opinion also Didymus and Euagrius were. This his grosse errour they excuse: first, for that happily these things might be rois•…•…ed into his works by Heretickes: And secondly, for that hee wrote before the time of the Fifth Generall Councell, wherein the errour of Origen was condemned. From these Greeke Fathers, Master Higgons l 1.11 proceedeth to the Latine: And first produceth Ruffinus vpon the Psalmes: and then Ambrose. That Ruffinus wrote vpon the Psalmes was neuer heard of, before that of late one Antonius de Albone Arch-Bishop of Lions, found out an vnknowne worke, in a certaine ruinated Abbey, and put it out vnder the name of Ruf∣finus, though as himselfe confesseth, it seemed strange to many that such a worke had lyen hid so long; and more strange, that so often the same sentences and periods should bee found in Augustine that are in this supposed Ruffinus; seeing hee could not take them from Augustine; & Augustine in all likelyhood would not borrow them from him, neuer vsing to bee beholding to any man in this kind: so that it may bee thought this worke had a latter Author then either of these: & surely, the words M^r Higgons citeth are the words of Augustine, and therefore ill alledged to shew that o∣thers before him thought as hee did touching the purging of men dying in an imperfit state of grace. Wherefore let vs come to Ambrose, out of whom he citeth two places: the first is vpon the hundred and eighteene Psalme, the second vpon the thirty sixe Psalme. Touching the first of these places Cardinall m 1.12 Bellarmine will tell him, that it is not to bee vnderstood of the fire of Purgatory, but of the fire of Gods Iudgement: which is not a purging or an afflicting fire, but a trying and examining fire.

I will set down the words at large, that the Reader may iudge of them. All must be proued by fire that desire to returne to Paradise, for it is not idlely written, that when Adam & Eue were cast out of Paradise, God set in the entrance into it, a fiery two-edged, or turning-sword: for all must passe by slaming fire, whether it bee Iohn the Evangelist whom the LORD so loued that he said of him to Peter: if I will haue him to abide, what is that to thee? follow thou me, (Of his death some haue doubted, of his passage through the fire we may not doubt, because he is in Paradise, & is not separated from CHRIST,) or Peter that receiued the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heauen, & walked vpon the Sea, he must be forced to say, we haue passed by fire & water, and thou hast brought vs into a place of refreshing: but when Iohn commeth, the fiery sword shall soon be turned away, because iniquity is not found in him, whō equity loued. If there were any fault found in him, as a man, the loue of God wasted it away. For the wings thereof are as the wings of fire: he that heere hath the fire of charitie, shall not there feare the fire of the sword, Christ shal say vnto Peter, that so oftē offred to dy for him, passe & be at rest: but he shal say, he hath tried vs in the fire, as siluer is tried. &c, Hee shall be tried as siluer, but I shal be tried as lead. I shall burne till the lead melt away: if no siluer be found in me, woe is me, I shal be cast into the lowest hell, or wholly burnt vp as stubble: if any gold or siluer be found in me, not by mine own works, but by the mercy and grace of CHRIST, and by the ministery of my Priest-hood, happily I saye, They that trust in thee, shall not bee confounded. Therefore iniquitie shall bee burned out by the fiery sword, that fitteth vpon the talent of Lead.

Hee alone could not feele that fire, who is the iustice of God euen Christ, who did no finne: for the fire found nothing in him, that it could burne; but concerning others, euen he that thinketh himselfe Gold, hath lead: and hee that thinketh himselfe to be a graine of corne, hath chaffe, that may be burned. Many here seeme to themselues to be gold, I do not enuie them, but euen the gold shall be tried: it shall burne in fire, that it may be proued: for so it is written, I will proue them as gold in the fire: therefore seeing we are to be tried, let vs so behaue our selues, that we may deserue to be appro∣ued by the iudgment of God; let vs, while wee are here, hold humility, that when euery of vs shall come to the iudgment of God, he may say, See my humility, and de∣liuer mee. And vpon the thirty sixt Psalme, he hath these words: We shall all be tried by fire: and Ezechiel sayth, Behold, the Lord Almighty commeth, and who shall abide the day of his comming? or who shall indure it, when he shall appeare vnto vs? for he shall come as purging fire, & as Fullers soape, & he shall sitte downe to trie and fine the gold and the siluer, he shall fine the sonnes of Leuie, and powre them out like gold and siluer, and they shall offer sacrifice to the Lord in righteousnesse. Therefore the sonnes of Leuie shall bee fined by fire: Ezechiel shall bee fined by the fire: and Daniel shall bee fined by the fire: but these, though they shall bee tried by the sire, yet they shall say: we haue passed by fire and water: others shall abide in the fire; to them the fire shall be as a moyst dewe, as it was to the Hebrew children, that were cast into the hotte burning furnace; but the reuenging fire shall burne vp the Ministers of iniquity. Woe is mee, if my worke shall burne, and I suffer losse of my labour! and if the Lord do saue his sernants, we shal be saued by faith, yet as by fire; & though we be not bur∣ned vp, yet wee shall bee burned: but how some remaine in the fire, and other passe thorough it, let the Scripture in another place teach vs. The people of Aegypt were drowned in the Red sea: the people of the Hebrewes passed through it: Moses pas∣sed, Pharaoh was ouer-whelmed because his grieuous sins did drowne him: in like sort sacrilegious persons shall be cast headlong into the lake of burning fire: &c. Here we

see Ambrose speaketh of the tryall of Gods seuere and righteous judgment expressing the same by the name of fire: because euen our God is a consuming fire. And a fire shall go before him, when he commeth to judge the world: but of the Papists Purgatory∣fire he hath no word. The fire he speaketh of, is the fiery tryall of Gods iudgement, through which he thinketh all must passe, though neuer so holy, and bee burned in it, though not burned vp, as the wicked shall. Of the same fire, not of Purgatory, but of the iudgement of God, doth Hillary speake vpon the same wordes of the 118. Psal. and vpon the second of Mathew, where expounding these words, Hee shall Baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire, he sayth, it remaineth, that they that haue bin Bapti∣zed with the Holy Ghost should be comsummate and made perfit in the fire of iudgment. And before these Lactantius, n 1.13 his words are these: therefore the Diuine fire by one and the

same vertue and power shall burne the wicked &c. And also when the Lord shal iudge the righteous, hee shall try them by fire: Then they whose sins shall preuaile either in waight or number, shall bee burned vp in the fire: but they whom full and perfect righteousnesse and the maturity of vertue shall haue throughly seasoned, shall not feele that fire, because they haue something of God in them, to repell and reiect the force of the flame, and so great is the force of innocencie, that that harmlesse fire doth flye from it, hauing receiued power frō God to burne the vngodly, & to do seruice to the righteous.

Many things are found in Basill vpon Esay, which (as o 1.14 Sixtus Senensis saith) may seeme to tend to the same purpose, as p 1.15 whē vpon those words he shall purge Hie∣rusalē in the spirit of iudgmēt & in the spirit of burning:: he sayth, this is to be referred to the triall and examination which shall be in fire in the world to come. Thus do none of those Fathers, that Maister Higgons alleadgeth, say any thing for the imagined Pur∣gatory of Papists: but the same is clearely refuted by that which they say: and there∣fore the Reader may bee well assured, that it is most true, that I haue said: that Au∣gustine was the first that euer spake any thing of that Purgatory, wherein men dying in an imperfect state of grace, are supposed to be purged after this life by fire. These things being so, I doubt not but all men of any indifferency will easily see that this idle

Prater, which ranne away vpon discontentment, had little reason to say q 1.16 that hee grew to a detestation of his religion, because he found my dealing to be corrupt, and vnca∣pable of defence. His vaine and childish r 1.17 retorting of that I say of Bellarmines im∣pudencie in another case and vpon another occasion, I little regard: seeing he gaue mee just cause to say that I sayd, and I had good aduantage against him; whereas this pra∣ting Fugitiue hath none against mee.

Notes

• * 1.1

  s Pag. 108.
• b 1.2

  Enchirid. ad Laurentium. cap. 67.
• c 1.3

  Vbi supr.
• d 1.4

  Pag. 113.
• e 1.5

  Pag. 110.
• f 1.6

  Basil. in Esaiae. 9.
• g 1.7

  Nazianz. Orat. 40. in sanctum Bap∣tisma.
• h 1.8

  Hom. 3. de Epiph.
• i 1.9

  Sixtus Senen∣si•…•… Bibl. sanct. l. 4. Baron. tom. 3. 341. 11.
• * 1.10

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Serm. de de∣functis.
• l 1.11

  Pag. 11•…•…
• m 1.12

  De Purga•…•…. l. 1. c. 4.
• n 1.13

  Lib. 4. cap. 21. inst. Chr.
• o 1.14

  Biblioth. Sanct. lib. 5. annot. 17 1.
• p 1.15

  In 4. Esaiae.
• q 1.16

  pag. 109,
• r 1.17

  Ibid.