then the applying of prayers to the helping of men's souls, out of any such punishments, must be referred to the erroneous apprehension of some particular men, and not to the general intention of the ancient Church; from which in this point, as in many others beside, the latter Church of Rome hath swerved and quite gone astray. The ancient writer of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, handling this matter of praying for the dead professedly, doth by way of objection move this doubt: "To what purpose should the bishop entreat the divine goodness to grant remission of sins unto the dead, and a like glorious inheritance with those that have followed God?" seeing by such prayers he can be brought to no other rest, but that which is fitting for him, and answerable unto the life which he hath here led. If our Romish divinity had been then acknowledged by the Church, there had been no place left to such questions and doubts as these. The matter might easily have been answered, that, though a man did die in the state of grace, yet was he not presently to be admitted unto the place of rest, but must first be reckoned withal; both for the committal of those smaller faults, unto which through human frailty he was daily subject, and for the not performance of full penance and satisfaction for the greater sins into which in this life he had fallen: and purgatory being the place wherein he must be cleansed from the one, and make up the just payment for the other; these prayers were directed unto God for the delivery of the poor soul, which was not now in case to help itself out of that place of torment.

But this author, taking upon him the person of St. Paul's scholar, and professing to deliver herein "that'

• Φαίης δ' ἂν ὅπως, ταῦτα μὲν ὀρθῶς εἰρῆσθαι παρ' ἡμῶν· ἀπορεῖν δὲ ὅτου ἕνεκα τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀγαθότητος ὁ ἱεράρχης δεῖται, τῶν ἡμαρτη μένων αἰτῶν τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ τὴν ἄφεσιν, καὶ τὴν τοῖς θεοειδέσιν ὁμοταyň kai pavorárηv áπокλýρwσv. Dionys. eccles. hierarch. cap. 7. op. tom. 1. pag. 267.

1 Περὶ δὲ τῆς εἰρημένης εὐχῆς ἦν ὁ ἱεράρχης ἐπεύχεται τῷ κεκοιμη μένῳ, τὴν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐλθοῦσαν ἐκ τῶν ἐνθέων ἡμῶν καθηγεμόνων παράδοσιν, εἰπεῖν ἀναγκαίον. Ο θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἐκφαντορικός ἐστιν, ὡς τὰ

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tradition which he had received from his divine Masters," saith no such thing; but giveth in this for his answer: “ The divine bishop, as the Scriptures witness, is the interpreter of the divine judgments, for he is the angel of the Lord God Almighty. He hath learned therefore out of the oracles delivered by God, that a most glorious and divine life is by his just judgment worthily awarded to them that have lived holily: his divine goodness and kindness passing over those blots which by human frailty he had contracted; forasmuch as no man, as the Scriptures speak, is free from pollution. The bishop therefore, knowing these things to be promised by the true oracles, prayeth that they may accordingly come to pass, and those sacred rewards may be bestowed upon them that have lived holily." The bishop at that time belike did not know so much as our popish bishops do now, that God's servants must dearly smart in purgatory for the sins wherewith they were overtaken through human infirmity: he believed that God of his merciful goodness would pass by those slips, and that such after-reckonings as these should give no stoppage to the present bestowing of those holy rewards upon the children of the promise. "Therefore the divine bishop," saith our author, "asketh those things which were promised by God, and are grateful to him, and without doubt will be granted; thereby as well manifesting his own good disposition unto God, who is a lover of the good, as declaring like an interpreter unto them

λόγια φησὶ, τῶν θεαρχικῶν δικαιωμάτων· ἄγγελος γὰρ κυρίου παντοκράτορος θεοῦ ἐστί· μεμάθηκεν οὖν ἐκ τῶν θεοπαραδότων λογίων, ὅτι τοῖς ὁσίως βιώσασιν, ἡ φανοτάτη καὶ θεία ζωὴ κατ ̓ ἀξίαν ὑπὸ τῶν δικαιοτάτων ζυγῶν ἀντιδίδοται παρορώσης ἀγαθότητι τῆς θεαρχικῆς φιλανθρωπίας, τὰς ἐγγενομένας αὐτοῖς ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας κηλίδας. ἐπείπερ οὐδεὶς, ὡς τὰ λόγια φησὶ, καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ῥύπου. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ ἱεράρχης οἶδεν ἐπηγγελμένα πρὸς τῶν ἀληθῶν λογίων· αἰτεῖ δὲ αὐτὰ γενέσθαι, καὶ δωρηθῆναι τοῖς ὁσίως βιώσασι τὰς ἱερὰς ἀντιδόσεις. Id. ibid. pag. 268.

8 Οὐκοῦν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἐξαιτεῖ τὰ θειωδῶς ἐπηγγελμένα καὶ φίλα θεῶ, καὶ πάντως δωρηθησόμενα, καὶ τὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἀγαθοειδοὺς ἕξεως ἐπιδεικνὺς τῶ φιλαγάθῳ θεῷ, καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἐκφαντορικῶς ἐμφαίνων τὰ τοῖς ὁσίοις ἐσόμενα δῶρα. οὕτω καὶ τὰς ἀφοριστικὰς ἔχουσιν οἱ ἱεράρχαι δυνάμεις, ὡς ἐκφαντορικοὶ τῶν θείων δικαιωμάτων, &c. Id. ibid. pag. 269.

that be present the gifts that shall befall to such as are holy."

He further also addeth, that "the bishops have a separating power, as the interpreters of God's judgments, according to that commission of Christ: Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose you shall retain, they are retained; and Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven." Now as in the use of the keys the schoolmen', following St. Hierome, do account the minister to be the interpreter only of God's judgment, by declaring what is done by him in the binding or loosing of men's sins; so doth this author here give them power only to "separate those that are already judged of God," and by way of "declaration' and convoy, to bring in those that are beloved of God, and to exclude such as are ungodly." And if the power, which the ministers have received by the foresaid commission, do extend itself to any further real operation upon the living, pope Gelasius will deny that it may be stretched in like manner unto the dead; because that Christ saith, Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth. "He saith, Upon earth: for he that dieth bound is no where said to be loosed;" and, "That" which a man remaining in his body hath not received, being unclothed of his flesh, he cannot obtain," saith Leo.

Whether the dead received profit by the prayers of the living, was still a question in the Church. Maximus, in his Greek scholies upon the writer of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, wisheth us to mark, that even before that

h Vid. Eucholog. Græc. fol. 151. b. et 152. a.

iSee above, pag. 148, 174, 175.

* τοὺς κεκριμένους θεῷ κατ ̓ ἀξίαν ἀφοριζόντων. Dionys. ut supra.

· ἐκφαντορικῶς καὶ διαπορθμευτικῶς τούς τε θεοφιλεῖς προσιεμένου, καὶ τοὺς ἀθέους ἀποκληροῦντος. Id. ibid.

m

Super terram, inquit: nam in hac ligatione defunctum nusquam dixit absolvi. Gelas. in commonitorio ad Faustum.

n Quod manens in corpore non receperit, consequi exutus carne non poterit. Leo, epist. 89. vel 91. ad Theodorum.

• Καὶ σημείωσαι, ὅτι καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐζητήθη τὸ ἄπορον τοῦτο. Maxim schol. in eccles. hierarch. cap. 7.

writer's time this doubt was questioned." Among the questions wherein Dulcitius desired to be resolved by St. Augustine, we find this to be one, "Whether the offering that is made for the dead did avail their souls any thing?" and that "Many" did say to this, that if herein any good were to be done after death, how much rather should the soul itself obtain ease for itself, by its own confessing of her sins there, than that for the ease thereof an oblation should be procured by other men." The like also is noted by Cyril, or rather John bishop of Jerusalem; that he "knew" many who said thus: What profit doth the soul get that goeth out of this world, either with sins or not with sins, if you make mention of it in prayer?" and by Anastasius Sinaita, or Nicænus: "Some3 do doubt, saying, that the dead are not profited by the oblations that are made for them;" and, long after them, by Petrus Cluniacensis, in his treatise against the followers of Peter Bruse in France: "That the good deeds of the living may profit the dead, both these heretics do deny, and some Catholics also do seem to doubt." Nay in the west, not the profit only, but the lawfulness also, of these doings for the dead was called in question; as partly may be collected by Boniface archbishop of Mentz his consulting with pope Gregory, about seven hundred and thirty years after the birth of our Saviour, "Whether" it were lawful to offer oblations for the dead;" which he should have no reason

P Utrum oblatio, quæ sit pro quiescentibus, aliquid eorum conferat animabus ? Augustin. ad Dulcit. quæst. 2. op. tom. 6. pag. 128.

9 Ad quod multi dicunt, Quod si aliquis beneficii in hoc locus possit esse post mortem; quanto magis sibi anima ferret ipsa refrigeria, sua per se illic confitendo peccata, quam in eorum refrigerium ab aliis oblatio procuratur. Ibid.

• Οίδα γὰρ πολλοὺς τοῦτο λέγοντας· τί ὠφελεῖται ψυχὴ, μεθ ̓ ἁμαρτή μάτων ἀπαλλασσομένη τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμου, ἢ οὐ μεθ ̓ ἁμαρτημάτων, ἐὰν kπì τns πроσενxñs μvnμoveúntɛ; Cyrill. cateches. 5. mystagogic. Op. pag.

328.

̓Αμφιβάλλουσι τινες λέγοντες, ὅτι οὐκ ὠφελοῦνται οἱ νεκροὶ ἐκ τῶν yivoμérwv ovvážεwv vπEρ aνTÔν. Anastas. fin. pag. 540. edit. Græco-Lat. Quod bona vivorum mortuis prodesse valeant, et hi hæretici negant, et quidam etiam catholici dubitare videntur. Petr. Cluniac. epist. contra Petrobrusianos. "Pro obeuntibus quoque consuluisse dignosceris, si liceat oblationes auferre. Gregor. II. vel III. epist. ad Bonifac. in tomis conciliorum.

to do, if no question had been made thereof among the Germans; and is plainly delivered by Hugo Etherianus, about one thousand one hundred and seventy years after Christ, in these words: "I know that many are deformed with vain opinions, thinking that the dead are not to be prayed for; because that neither Christ, nor the apostles that succeeded him, have intimated these things in the Scriptures. But they are ignorant, that there be many things, and those exceeding necessary, frequented by the holy Church, the tradition whereof is not had in the Scriptures and yet they pertain nevertheless to the worship of God, and obtain great strength." Whereby it may appear, that this practice wanted not opposition even then, when in the papacy it was advanced unto his greatest height. And now is it high time, that I should pass from this article unto the next following.

w Scio plerosque vanis opinionibus deformari, putantes non esse orandum pro mortuis; eo quod neque Christus, neque apostoli ejus successores hæc scriptis intimaverint. Nesciunt quidem illi plura esse, ac persumme necessaria, quæ sancta Ecclesia frequentat, quorum traditio ex scripturis non habetur: nihilo tamen minus ad cultum Dei pertinent, et vigorem maximum obtinent. Hug. Etherian. de animar. regress. ab infer. cap. 13.