A treatise of the sibyls so highly celebrated, as well by the antient heathens, as the holy fathers of the church : giving an accompt of the names, and number of the sibyls, of their qualities, the form and matter of their verses : as also of the books now extant under their names, and the errours crept into Christian religion, from the impostures contained therein, particularly, concerning the state of the just, and unjust after death / written originally by David Blondel ; Englished by J.D.

CHAP. XLII. Of the true Motives, which the Antients had to Pray for the Blessed Saints in Heaven.

BUt not further to mention Baldric, or the Bishop of Mascon, it will be demanded, what Motive enclined those, who, since the year 500. are found to have made Prayers for the Dead, to do so. And here I am willing to acknowleg, that there was no more noise of the Opinion, which had so much distracted the Spirits of Christians of the Second, and Third Age, deceived by the Pretended Sibylline Writing, and presup∣posing that all Souls, without exception, descended to Hell, were there confined, till the Resurrection of their Bodies, and exposed not onely to the temptations, but also to the violences of Evil Spirits; which to prove, Justine Martyr alledged, to Trypho the Jew, the pretended raising of Samuel by the Witch of En-dor. For, though the most antient Prayers (as, for Instance, those, which St. Augustine made for his Mother) seem to have been drawn up by that Precedent; and that the Libera, if it be appli∣ed to the Departed, rather then to the Faithfull in Agonies, and preparing themselves for death, requires we should think they were; yet had

they, even from the Time of Tertullian, seventy years, or thereabouts, after the first coming abroad of the Sibylline Writing so called, begun to exempt the Martyrs from the necessity of descending into Hell; and so, by little and little, the minds of the Christians strugling with, and overcoming the Imposture, that first Hypothesis was cast out of doors, yet so, as that it was done without a rejection of the Forms, which those, who maintained it, had introduced into the Publick Service of the Church. And thence comes it, that St. Ambrose prays for his Brother Satyrus; say∣ing, Tibi nunc, omnipotens Deus, innoxiam commendo animam, &c. Now, O Almighty God, I recommend unto thee his innocent soul. And for Valentini∣an the Second, and Gratian, in these words, Hîc adhuc intercessionem, &c. Should I still make Intercession here for him, to whom I dare promise a reward? Put into my hands the sacred Mysteries; let us with a devout affection de∣mand rest for him; give me the celestial Sacraments; let us attend his re∣ligious soul with our Oblations. a 1.1 Lift up your hands with me in the Sanctuary, O ye People; to the end, at least, that by this Present we may recompense his merits, &c. No night shall go over my head; but that I will make you some present of my prayers; in all my Visitations I shall remember you, &c. And for the Great Theodosius; Praesumo de Domino &c. I so far presume of the Lord, that he will b 1.2 hear the voyce of my cry, where∣with I attend thy pious soul, &c. c 1.3 Grant perfect rest unto thy servant Theo∣dosius, even that rest, which thou hast prepared for thy Saints. May his soul return thither, whence it descended, where he cannot feel the d 1.4 sting of death, where he may be satisfied, that this death is the end not of Nature, but of sin, &c.

From which Prayers it is to be observed, by the way,

First, That this Holy Prelate, expressing that he considered not his prayers for Valentinian, who died a Catechumen, but a Person very Re∣ligious, and truly inclined to Piety, as an Office, whereof he stood in need; but as a simple Effect of his good Wishes, manifestly discovers, that not any one of the Faithfull, departed in the Lord, stands in any ne∣cessity of the suffrages of the surviving; and accordingly, that the Pro∣testants, who believe, that, in matter of Religion, nothing should be at∣tempted without the express order of God himself, speaking in his Word, cannot be accompted criminals for their declining an act, which is not (even in their Judgment, who practised it) of any necessity, or any way beneficial to those, for whom the voluntary devotion, or Will-worship of men designs it.

Secondly, That St. Ambrose, who calls the Eucharist, celebrated in memory of Valentinian, and, upon his occasion, a Present, which he makes his Friend, and by which he requites him, could not have be∣lieved it to be either the Body of the Son of God, or the Offering-up of that Body, or, in general, a Propitiatory Sacrifice properly so called. For who could (without an impious Absurdity) imagine, that the real Body of our Saviour should be so much at our disposal, as that we might make Pre∣sents of it to our Friends? &c. that the Proper Oblation of the same Bo∣dy, being infinitely more precious, then we, or any thing, that can pro∣ceed from us, is, or could be a supplement, which we adjoyn to our Prayers for our Friends; and that this kind of Present is as the meanest

kindness we can do them, so as that we might say, with St. Ambrose, that, at least, by that Present we requite them? It seems then he pretended not to do what the Church of Rome thinks to do at this day in the Masses of Requiem. For she professes to present the Oblation she makes therein, whatever it may be, not to the deceased, for whom she prays; but onely to God, for, or on the behalf of the deceased. She conceives al∣so, that her Host, which she believes to be properly, and really the Body of the Son of God, surpasses in value, not onely our Prayers; but what ever is most excellent, either in Earth, or in Heaven, among the Angels, and Spirits of the glorified Saints. And though she, who cannot endure the Protestants, because they are unwilling to submit their Consciences to any other Rule, then that of Faith, contained in the Sacred Scriptures, hath born in her Bosom, and suffered unreproved those inconsiderate Children, who have had the boldness to write that the solemn Sacrifice might be offered to Creatures; As when the Authour of the great Chronicle of the Low-Countries thrust in this into his History, that, on the 27^th of October, 1467. Charles, last Duke of Burgundy, who conquered the People about Liege, Ecclesiae Lovaniensis universo Clero commisit, omnipotenti Deo, suaeque sanctae Genitrici offerre suo nomine sacrificium, &c. gave express Order to all the Clergy of the Church of Lovain, to offer unto Almighty God, and to his most Holy Mother, the solemn Sacrifice in his name; never considering, either that the Oblation of the solemn Sacrifice is (by the confession of all) the act of Latria, and sovereign adoration, due to God alone, as being the most proper Object, and most worthy of it; nor that the most Holy Mother of our Lord, though blessed (according to the saying of the Angel) among Women, never ceased being a Creature, and that she is such now in Heaven as much, as she was before she was crowned with Glory; or that to ad∣dress to her, either separately, or joyntly with God Almighty, the solemn Sacrifice, is to serve her with the service of Latria, and to transfer to the Creature the Glory of the Creatour: Or when Jovianus Pontanus, (a Great Person otherwise) Councellour, and Secretary of State to Ferdinand of Ar∣ragon King of Naples, feigned, e 1.5 that St. Michael, the Archangel, appear∣ing to Laurence, Bishop of Sipontum in Apulia, had entertained him with this horrid, and necessarily-false Discourse, concerning the Grot of the Mountain Garganus, now called Mont di S. Angelo; Michael ego sum, qui, hoc excavato saxo, hac antro, hoc habitaculo, his assidue manantibus stillis ablu∣turus sum, ac deleturus meam ad aram confugientium mortalium errata, &c. I am Michael, who, having hollowed this Rock, this Cave, this Habitation, shall, by these perpetually falling drops, wash away, and take off the sins of those, who have recourse to my Altar: as, if ever any one of the blessed Angels of Light, of whom St. Augustine sometime said to the Heathens, f 1.6 Uti∣nam & vos illos colere velletis, facilè enim ab ipsis disceretis non illos colere, &c. I wish you would also attempt to serve them, (as sometime did St. g 1.7 John) for you might learn of them not to serve them; as if, I say, it had been a thing becoming any of the Angels to importune men for Temples, and Altars, or, at least, to erect them to themselves; or, lastly, to attribute to themselves the honour of washing away, and blotting out the sins of men; or, as if any other, then the Son of God h 1.8 had purged our sins, and that i 1.9 by the sacrifice of himself appearing now once for to put away sin,

k 1.10 sanctifying those, who are his, through the offering of his Body once for all, having offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever, and by that offering for ever perfected them, that are sanctified: Upon which accompt St. John says, that he is the Propitiation for our sins, and that his blood cleanseth us from all ••n; yet this very Church of Rome, I say, who hath, in those of her Communion, forborn to take any notice of the wicked, and scandalous Expressions we have even now refuted, made no difficulty, after St. Augustine, to declare those guilty of sacrilege, who should presume to sacrifice to any of the Saints; nor, in imitation of him, to affirm, that it is a less sin to return drunk from the Memorials (or, Sepulchres) of the Martyrs, then to sacrifice to them fasting. But considering, with the whole antient Church in her Liturgies, the things distributed in the Eucharist no otherwise, then as gifts, and presents, which God gives us, and which he creates, and day∣ly leaves to our disposal, though by their consecration we hold, with the Holy Fathers, that they become Religious Sacraments, Figures, Images, Signs, and Similitudes of the Body and Blood of Christ, nay, that very Bo∣dy, and Blood in a Sacramental way, no man ought to think they abso∣lutely cease to be what they were (according to the condition of their nature) before the Consecration, viz. aliments of refection, created for our use, and left to our discretion, to be communicated to those, who are with us, whether effectually, or in outward appearance, in the Communion of the Church. Upon this accompt St. Ambrose might say, that he made a Present of it to Valentinian, a Catechumen indeed, as to outward appearance, but in effect one of the Faithfull, in as much, as he had made a Vow to receive Baptism; much after the same manner, as at this day the Church of Rome, in the distribution of the Bread, which she calls Holy, reserves (even for the absent, that are in Communion with her, whom the Persons, that offer it, are willing to honour) their portion, as a kinde of Honoura∣ry Present.

Thirdly, I intreat the Reader to observe, that St. Ambrose, who had said of the Great Theodosius, that he had attained salvation through his hu∣mility, in imitation of David, that his soul was returned into her rest, &c. that she had made haste to enter into the City of Jerusalem, into true glory, in the Kingdom of the blessed, in the enjoyment of perpetual light, rejoycing in the fruits of the reward for the things he had done in his body, does not, when he concludes his Discourse with this Wish, Grant thy servant perfect rest, that rest, which thou hast prepared for thy Saints, any way insinuate (to the prejudice of what he had said before) that the Soul of that Prince was then (when he spoke) in expectation of her rest; for he adds im∣mediately after, that he remains in light, and is glorified in the Assemblies of the Saints, in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, enjoying the society of Gratian his Brother-in-law, of Flaccilla his Daughter, and of the great Constantine: but he desires, on his behalf, not absolutely rest, since he was possessed of it, as to his Soul, but the perfect rest, the possession where∣of he could not arrive to in Body, and Soul, till after the Resurrection, and in comparison to which, what he was then possessed of could not be accompted other, then imperfect, and, as it were, half; since he enjoyed it, but in one of the parts of his Person, the other being to remain un∣der the power of Death, till the Last day, at which time it was to be

rejoyned to the other, that they might be joyntly received into Glory.

Into this Doctrine, which, in the main, presupposes the Hypothesis of the Protestants, concerning the Beatitude of the Faithfull, as to their souls, from the Moment of their Body's dissolution, we finde a little rubbish shuffled; which the Protestants do not conceive any one should force them to take upon their accompt.

In the first place, according to the then Custom, but without any Com∣mand, or Promise of God, and without the Example of the Apostolique Church, (the onely means able to Authorise his Action) St. Ambrose prays for him, whom he acknowledged in Bliss, in the Kingdom of God; a kinde of Office, which he himself, in his Funeral Oration for Valentinian; had de∣clared purely Arbitrary, and proceeding from the Will-worship, whereof St. Paul had, about three hundred and thirty years before, expresly ad∣vertized the Colossians, and by them the whole Church through all Ages, to beware:

And secondly, where he prays, that the Soul of Theodosius might re∣turn into the rest, whence it had descended, he not onely makes a superfluous Wish, and consequently ill-grounded, according to his own confession; since that Soul was already gotten into the place, where he wished it: But he shews further, that he had a little Tincture of Origene's Venom, whose Imagination it was, that the souls, having sinned in Heaven, and being forced to depart thence, were descended, guilty of Crimes, and, as such, had been disposed into Bodies. An Opinion, which was condemned in the year 399. by the unanimous consent of the whole Church; which constantly maintains, even to this day, and that every where, that all Souls are produced by God, at the very instant of their infusion into the Bodies they are to animate; and that, for as much as they were not at all, be∣fore they were united to their Bodies, they could not either be, or sin, in Heaven, or, consequently, descend thence; as St. Ambrose presupposed: that, which is not absolutely, neither having (before it is) any Being, nor pre-existing, nor capable of either Action, or Motion from one place to another, or of any Passion any way conceivable by us.

But as to the main point, it is manifest, that St. Ambrose, and all the Church of his Time, had absolutely rejected the first Hypothesis, derived from the pretended Sibylline Writing, maintaining, that all Souls, with∣out exception, descend into Hell, after their departure out of the Bodies, wherewith they (every one, as to its own particular) constituted humane Persons; and that that other Branch of Errour, which had prepossessed the Spirit of Justine Martyr, and his Contempora∣ries, whereby they imagined, that the Souls of the greatest Saints, during their pretended detention in Hell, were, in some sort, sub∣ject to the power of Evil Spirits, and upon that accompt, stood in need of being relieved by the Prayers of the Living, imploring on their behalf the Protection of God, and his good Angels, was no longer held, it being the perswasion even of those, who continued to make the same Prayers, as they, who had been of that Belief, that the true Christians, departing out of the Body, were with the Lord, in an eternal rest, and absolute safety. In so much, that these, who recommended the Dead to God, grounded not their so doing on either of these two Mo∣tives,

St. Ambrose telling us plainly concerning Valentinian the Se∣cond. Requiescamus (inquit l 1.11 anima pia) in Castellis, ostendens illic esse quietem tutiorem, quae septo Coelestis refugii munita, atque vallata, non ex∣agitatur soecularium incursibus Bestiarum, &c. Let us rest (says the Faith∣full soul) in Towers, shewing that there (where she is received) there is a more assured Repose, which being encompassed, and fortified with the Enclosure of celestial refuge, is not disturbed by the Incursions of the Beasts of this World; that is to say, Evil Spirits, and Wicked Men. And concerning Theodo∣sius; Lapsum sentire non poterit, in illa requie constitutits, &c. Being seated in that Rest, he cannot be subject to fall from it.

And Paulinus, not long before the Death of St. Ambrose, to Pamma∣chius, concerning his Wife Paulina, deceased in the year 396. Satis do∣cuit Rex Propheta, &c. The Royal Prophet hath sufficiently m 1.12 taught us how far we should be troubled at the departure of our Friends, and Kinred, to wit, so, as rather to think of our Journey after them, then of that, which they are already come to the end of. It is indeed an Expression of Piety to be cast down at the taking away hence of Just men; but it is also an Holy thing, to be raised up into Gladness upon the n 1.13 Hope, and Faith of God's Promises, and to say to him, that it is in trouble, o 1.14 Why art thou sad? Be it so, that Piety bewail for a time, yet is it necessary, that Faith should always be joyfull.

Upon this Ground was it, that all those, who, for the space of six hun∣dred years, made it their Business to write the Lives of the Faithfull, ac∣compted them among the Blessed; not admitting any adjournment of their Peace, and Felicity, after their death. In so much as Gregory, Arch-Bishop of Tours, deceased the seventeenth of November, 592. about which time Pope GREGORY, first of that Name, was designing the first-draught of Purgatory, should not have spoken of those Virtuous Persons, whose memory he celebrated, in other Terms, then those, who had preceeded him: saying of Gregory, Bishop of Langres; of Nicetius, Bishop of Lyons; of Porcianus, Ursus, and Caluppa, Religious Men; Migravit ad Dominum, &c. He is gone hence to the Lord: of Gullus, Bishop of Cler-mont; of Nicetius, Bishop of Trier; and of Lupicinus; Spiri∣tum, coelo intentum, proemisit ad Dominum, &c. He sent before (his Body) to the Lord his Soul, imployed in Thoughts of Heaven: of Friard; Christus animam suscepit in Coelo, &c. Christ hath received his soul into Heaven: of Martius, Ad Coronam commigravit, &c. He is gone hence to receive a Crown: of Venantius; Vitam percepturus aeternam, emicuit saeculo, &c. He is hurried hence to receive eternal Life: of Leobord; Manifestum est, eum ab Angelis susceptum, &c. It is manifest, he hath been entertained by Angels. In a word, the great number of those, who admire the Novelties, that have crept into the Opinion of Purgatory, hath been no hindrance, but that the Authours of Lives, who have written since the year 600. have spoken, and believed of their Dead consonantly to what had been done by the most Antient.

If therefore, even in the Time of St. Ambrose, the Opinion of the Millenaries was so lost to credit, that St. Hierome, who, out of respect towards the Great Persons, that had followed it, forbore to express his Thoughts thereof, and to number it among Heresies, thought it a great

Tenderness towards it, to assign it a place among the dreaming Imagina∣tions of mis-informed Spirits; it is not to be conceived, that after the year 500. descending still, it should have regained any Partizans, and that there should have been any man, whose Prayers for his deceased Friends proceeded from that Motive, so, as that he thought himself ob∣liged to wish them their part in the First Resurrection, which no man then understood in the sense, wherein Tertullian, and those of his Time, had conceived it. But indeed, many, even till after the year 600. relying on that Hypothesis, partly extracted out of the pretended Oracles of the Counterfeit Sibyl, that All Souls should pass through the last Conflagration of the World, demanded, on the Behalf of their departed Friends two things. One, that they might pass through that great Conflagration, as through a Purgative Fire, not to be prejudiced thereby, no more, then the Gold melt∣ed in the Crucible. Another, that they might have their part with all the Saints in the Resurrection to Glory. Upon this perswasion, Kindasvind, King of the West-Goths, in Spain, who reigned between the year 642. and 649. had caused these Verses to be written on the Tomb of his Wife Reciberga;

—Ego te (Conjux) quia vincere fata nequivi, Funere perfunctam, Sanctis commendo tuendam; Ut, cùm Flamma vorax veniet comburere Terras, Coetibus ipsorum meritò sociata resurgas.

Since death, on my desires, would not thee spare, Of thee departed may the Saints take care; That thou, with them, mayst rise again that day, When of the Fire the Earth shall be the prey.

The First of these Demands hath lost much of that Consideration with those, who have embraced the New Opinion of Purgatory, which seemed to require the Example of the most Antient, and the Exercise of the same Prayers, as they had made use of. For, though they make mention of the Last day's Fire, and are absolutely silent concerning Purgatory, yet do not those in the Western-Church, who pray for the Dead, hardly fasten their thought on any thing, but their deliverance out of the pretended place of Pain, and their disposal into rest; and I am to learn, whether there be any, who think of the Resurrection, to which alone relate, even to this day, both the Texts, and Prayers usually read in the Office of the Dead. Besides, it be thought shamefull, to pray (as in the Times of St. Chrysostome, Prudentius, and St. Augustine) for the Damned; not out of any hope to attain their absolute deliverance, but onely some alleviation of the Pai••s they suffer in Hell. And the Legends of Fa••tonilla, and Trajan, rescued out of eternal Damnation by the Prayers of St. Thecla, and Gregory the Great, are some∣what offensive to the Learned even of the Roman Communion, who are not a little troubled to excuse p 1.15 John Damascene, as to that particular. To be short, not one of the Doctours before the year 590. proposed to him∣self any such thing, as either the confinement of the Dead in Purgatory, or Prayer for their deliverance out of it.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Psa. cxxxiv. 2.
• b 1.2

  Psal. v. 2.
• c 1.3

  Psal. cxvi. 7.
• d 1.4

  2 Cor. xv. 55.
• e 1.5

  Hist. Neap. lib. 2. pag. 581.
• f 1.6

  In Psal. xcvi.
• g 1.7

  Apoc. xix. 10. & xxii. 8.
• h 1.8

  Hebr. i. 3.
• i 1.9

  Heb. ix. 26.
• k 1.10

  Hebr. x. 10. xii. 14.
• l 1.11

  Cant. vil. 11.
• m 1.12

  2 Sam. xii. 13.
• n 1.13

  Rom. xii. 12.
• o 1.14

  Psal. xliii. 1, 5.
• p 1.15

  Orat. de his, qui in Fide dormierunt.