for the faithfully deceased, for our fathers and forefathers, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and all the saints interceding for them." As if the phrase of offering for the martyrs were not to be found in St. Chrysostom's own works; and more universally "for the just, both the fathers and the patriarchs, the prophets and apostles, and evangelists and martyrs and confessors, the bishops, and such as led a solitary life, and the whole order;" in the suffrages of the Church, rehearsed by Epiphanius, yea, and in the western Church itself; "for" the spirits of those that are at rest, Hilary, Athanasius, Martin, Ambrose, Augustine, Fulgentius, Leander, Isidorus, &c." as may be seen in the Muzarabical office used in Spain.

Sixthly, this may be confirmed out of the funeral orations of St. Ambrose; in one whereof, touching the emperor Valentinian and his brother Gratian, thus he speaketh; "Let us believe that Valentinian is ascended from the desert, that is to say, from this dry and unmanured place unto those flowery delights; where, being conjoined with his brother, he enjoyeth the pleasure of everlasting life. Blessed are you both: if my orisons shall prevail any thing; no day shall overslip you in silence; no oration of mine shall pass you over unhonoured; no night shall run by, wherein I will not bestow upon you some portion of my prayers. With all oblations will I frequent you." In

pro patribus et proavis nostris ; intervenientibus patriarchis, prophetis, apostolis, martyribus, confessoribus, et omnibus sanctis. Chrysost. liturg. Latin.

P Tí oiε Tò Vж¿ρ μарrúρwv πроσpépeσlai; Chrysost. homil. 21. in Act. op. tom. 9. pag. 176. et tom. 12. pag. 765.

4 Ὑπὲρ δὲ δικαίων, καὶ πατέρων καὶ πατριάρχων, προφήτων καὶ ἀποστ τόλων, καὶ εὑαγγελιστῶν καὶ μαρτύρων καὶ ὁμολογητῶν, ἐπισκόπων τέ καὶ ἀναχωρητῶν, καὶ παντὸς τοῦ τάγματος. Epiphan. hæres. 75.

r Pro spiritibus pausantium, Hilarii, Athanasii, Martini, Ambrosii, Augustini, Fulgentii, Leandri, Isidori, &c. Offic. Muzarab. apud Eugen. Roblesium, in vita Francisci Ximenii.

Credamus quia ascendit a deserto, hoc est, ex hoc arido et inculto loco ad illas florulentas delectationes, ubi cum fratre conjunctus æternæ vitæ fruitur voluptate. Beati ambo: si quid meæ orationes valebunt: nulla dies vos silentio præteribit. Nulla inhonoratos vos mea transibit oratio. Nulla nox non donatos aliqua precum mearum contexione transcurret. Omnibus vos oblationibus frequentabo. Ambros. de obitu Valentiniani imp. op. tom. 2. pag. 1194.

rus:

another, he prayeth thus unto God: "Give rest unto thy perfect servant Theodosius, that rest which thou hast prepared for thy saints"; and yet he had said before of him; "Theodosius" of honourable memory, being freed from doubtful fight, doth now enjoy everlasting light and continual tranquillity; and for the things which he did in this body, he rejoiceth in the fruits of God's reward: because he loved the Lord his God, he hath obtained the society of the saints." And afterward also: "Theodosius" remaineth in light, and glorieth in the company of the saints." In a third, he prayeth thus for his brother Saty"Almighty God, I now commend unto thee his harmless soul, to thee do I make my oblation; accept mercifully and graciously the office of a brother, the sacrifice of a priest;" although he had directly pronounced of him before, that "hey had entered into the kingdom of heaven, because he believed the word of God," and excelled in many notable virtues. Lastly, in one of his epistles he comforteth Faustinus for the death of his sister, after this manner. "Do not the carcasses of so many half-ruined cities, and the funerals of so much land exposed under one view, admonish thee; that the departure of one woman, although a holy and an admirable one, should be borne with great consolation? especially, seeing they are cast

Da requiem perfecto servo tuo Theodosio, requiem quam præparasti sanctis tuis. Id. de obitu Theodosii imp. Op. tom. 2. pag. 1207.

" Absolutus igitur dubio certamine, fruitur nunc augustæ memoriæ Theodosius luce perpetua, tranquillitate diuturna; et, pro iis quæ in hoc gessit corpore, munerationis divinæ fructibus gratulatur. Ergo quia dilexit augustæ memoriæ Theodosius Dominum Deum suum, meruit sanctorum consortia. Id. ibid.

W

w Manet ergo in lumine Theodosius, et sanctorum cœtibus gloriatur. Ibid. Tibi nunc, omnipotens Deus, innoxiam commendo animam, tibi hostiam. meam offero: cape, propitius ac serenus, fraternum munus, sacrificium sacerdotis. Id. de obitu fratris. Op. tom. 2. pag. 1135.

y Intravit in regnum cœlorum, quoniam credidit Dei verbo, &c. Id. ibid.

z Tot igitur semirutarum urbium cadavera, terrarumque sub eodem conspectu exposita funera ; non te admonent unius, sanctæ licet et admirabilis, fœminæ decessionem consolabiliorem habendam? præsertim cum illa in perpetuum prostrata ac diruta sint; hæc autem, ad tempus quidem erepta nobis, meliorem illic vitam exigat. Itaque non tam deplorandam, quam prosequendam orationibus reor : nec mœstificandam lachrymis tuis, sed magis oblationibus animam ejus Domino commendandam arbitror. Id. epist. 39. Op. tom. 2. pag. 944.

down and overthrown for ever: but she, being taken from us but for a time, doth pass a better life there. I therefore think, that she is not so much to be lamented, as to be followed with prayers; and am of the mind, that she is not to be made sad with thy tears, but rather that her soul should be commended with oblations unto the Lord." Thus far St. Ambrose. Unto whom we may adjoin Gregory Nazianzen also; who, in the funeral oration that he made upon his brother Cæsarius, having acknowledged that he had "received" those honours that did befit a new created soul, which the Spirit had reformed by water," (for he had been but lately baptized before his departure out of this life), doth notwithstanding pray, "that the Lord would be pleased to receive him."

Divers instances of the like practice, in the ages following, I have produced in another place: to which I will add some few more, to the end that the reader may from thence observe, how long the primitive institution of the Church did hold up head among the tares that grew up with it, and in the end did quite choke and extinguish it. Our English Saxons had learned of Gregory to pray for relief of those souls, that were supposed to suffer pain in purgatory and yet the introducing of that novelty was not able to justle out the ancient usage of making prayers and oblations, for them which were not doubted to have been at rest in God's kingdom. And therefore the brethren of the Church of Hexham, in the anniversary commemoration of the obit of Oswald king of Northumberland, used "tod keep their vigils for the health of his soul;" and, having spent the night in praising of God with psalms, "to offer for him in the morning the sacrifice of the sacred oblation," as Beda writeth: who telleth us yet withal, that

8 τῆς νεοκτίστου ψυχῆς, ἣν τὸ πνεῦμα δι ̓ ὕδατος ἀνεμόρφωσεν, ἄξια τὰ yέρа κаρжоуμεvos. Greg. Nazianz. in fun. Cæsarii, orat. 10. op. tom. 1. pag. 167.

· Νῦν μὲν δέχοιο Καισάριον. Ibid. pag. 176.

c Discourse of the religion professed by the ancient Irish.

d Vigilias pro

salute animæ ejus facere ; plurimaque psalmorum laude celebrata, victimam pro eo mane sacræ oblationis offerre. Bed. lib. 3. hist. ecclesiast. cap. 2.

"he reigned with God in heaven," and by his prayers procured many miracles to be wrought on earth. So likewise doth the same Bede report', that, when it was discovered by two several visions, that Hilda the abbess of Streansheal, or Whitby in Yorkshire, was carried up by the angels into heaven; they which heard thereof presently caused prayers to be said for her soul. And Osberne relateth the like of Dunstan; that, being at Bath, and beholdings in such another vision the soul of one, that had been his scholar at Glastenbury, to be carried up into "the palace of heaven; he straightway commended the same into the hands of the Divine piety," and entreated the Lords of the place where he was to do so likewise.

:

Other narrations of the same kind may be found among them that have written of saints' lives and particularly in the tome published by Mosander, page sixty-nine, touching the decease of Bathildis queen of France; and page twenty-five, concerning the departure of Godfry earl of Cappenberg: who is said there to have appeared unto a certain abbess, called Gerbergis, and to have acquainted her, "that" he was now without all delay, and without all danger of any more severe trial, gone unto the palace of the Highest King; and, as the son of the Immortal King, was clothed

e Id. ibid. cap. 12, et 14.

f Id. lib. 4. hist. cap. 23.

g Repente ad superna raptus, cujusdam discipuli nobiliter a se apud Glestoniam educati animam, innumera angelorum frequentia hinc inde stipatam, atque immensi luminis fulgore perfusam, ad cœli palatium provehi conspexit. Moxque in manus Divinæ pietatis eam commendans, dominos quoque loci ad commendandum invitat. Osbernus, in vita S. Dunstani. MS. in biblioth. Cottoniana et Bodleiana. Notandum vero, in Jo. Capgravii Legenda (in qua prior narrationis hujus pars ad verbum ex Osberno, ut alia de Dunstano complura, descripta cernitur) posteriorem hanc sententiam omitti penitus : in Eadmero vero (ex quo, non autem ex Osberno vel Osberto, vita Dunstani quæ Mai. 19. apud Surium legitur, est desumpta) ita tantummodo referri. Qui pro tanta gloria fratris ultra quam dici queat exultans, et immensas corde et ore Deo cunctipotenti gratias agens; sociis quid acciderit manifesta voce exposuit, et diem ac horam transitus ejus notari præcepit.

h Noveris, ait, me modo sine ulla dilatione, aut ullo severioris examinis periculo, ad Summi Regis palatium commigrasse, atque tanquam Regis Immortalis filium beata immortalitate vestitum. Vit. Godefrid. cap. 13. a Jac. Mosandro edit. Colon. ann. 1581.

with blessed immortality": and the monk that wrote the legend, addeth, that she presently thereupon" caused the sacrifice of the mass to be offered for him," which how fabulous soever it may be for the matter of the vision, yet doth it strongly prove, that within these five-hundred years (for no longer since it is that this is accounted to have been done) the use of offering, for the souls of those that were believed to be in heaven, was still retained in the Church. The letters of Charles the Great unto Offa king of Mercia are yet extant; wherein he wisheth that intercessions should be made "for the soul of pope Adrian" then lately deceased; "not having any doubt at all", saith he, " that his blessed soul is at rest; but that we may shew faithfulness and love unto our most dear friend: even as St. Augustine also giveth direction, that intercessions ought to be made for all men of ecclesiastical piety; affirming, that to intercede for a good man doth profit him that doeth it." Where the two ends of this kind of intercession are to be observed: the one to shew their love to their friend; the other to get profit to themselves thereby, rather than to the party deceased. Lastly, pope Innocent the third, (or the second rather), being inquired of by the bishop of Cremona, concerning the state of a certain priest that died without baptism, resolveth him out of St. Augustine and St. Ambrose, that "because', he continued in the faith of the holy mother the Church, and the confession of the name of Christ; he was assoyled from original sin, and had attained the joy of the heavenly country." Upon

1 Mox fratribus Cappenbergensibus indicavit beati viri obitum, et pro eo missæ sacrificium offerendum curavit. Ibid.

* Deprecantes ut diligenter jubeatis intercedere pro anima illius: nullam habentes dubitationem, beatam illius animam in requie esse; sed ut fidem et dilectionem ostendamus in amicum nobis charissimum: sicut et beatus præcipit Augustinus, pro omnibus ecclesiasticæ pietatis intercessiones fieri debere: asserens, pro bono intercedere, facienti proficere. Carol. M. epist. ad Offam, inter epistolas Alcuini MS. in bibliotheca Cottoniana. Vid. Guil. Malmesburiens. de gest. reg. Anglor. lib. 1. cap. 4. et Matt. Westmonaster. ann. Dom. 797.

Quia in sanctæ matris Ecclesiæ fide, et Christi nominis confessione perseveravit, ab originali peccato solutum, et cœlestis patriæ gaudium esse adeptum, asserimus incunctanter. Decretal. lib. 3. tit. 43. de presbytero non baptizato, cap. 2. Apostolicam. et collect. 1. Bernardi papiensis, lib. 5. tit. 35. cap. 2.