last day, or to the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, or to some other fire than that which he intended to kindle thereby. This benefit only have we here gotten by his labours, that he hath saved us the pains of seeking far for the forge, from whence the first sparkles of that purging fire of his broke forth. For the ancientest memorial that he bringeth thereof, the 'places which he hath abused out of the canonical and apocryphal Scriptures only excepted, is° out of Plato in his Gorgias and Phædo; Cicero, in the end of his fiction of the dream of Scipio; and Virgil, in the sixth book of his Æneids: and next after the apostles' times, out of Tertullian, in the seventeenth chapter of his book De anima; and Origen in divers places. Only he must give us leave to put him in mind, with what spirit Tertullian was led, when he wrote that book De anima, and with what authority he strengthened that conceit of men's paying in hell for their small faults before the resurrection, namely of the Paraclete; by whom if he mean Montanus the arch-heretic, as there is small cause to doubt that he doth, we need not much envy the cardinal for raising up so worshipful a patron of his purgatory. But if Montanus come short in his testimony, Origen, I am sure, pays it home with full measure; not pressed down only and shaken together, but also running over. For he was one of those, as the cardinal' knoweth full well, "who approved of purgatory so much, that he acknowledged no other pains after this life, but purgatory penalties only;" and therefore in his judgment hell and purgatory being the selfsame thing, such as blindly follow the cardinal may do well to look, that they stumble not upon hell, while they seek for purgatory. The Grecians • Bellarmin. de purgator. lib. 1. cap. 11. P Id. ibid. cap. 7, et 10. 9 Hoc etiam Paracletus frequentissime commendavit; si quis sermones ejus ex agnitione promissorum charismatum admiserit. Tertull. de anima cap. ult. Non defuerunt, qui adeo purgatorium probarint, ut torias post hanc vitam agnoverint. Ita Origenes sensit. lib. 1. cap. 2. nullas pœnas nisi purgaBellarmin. de purgator. profess that they are afraid to tell their people of any temporary fire after this life; lest it should breed in them a spice of Origen's disease, and put out of their memory the thought of eternal punishment; and by this means, occasioning them to be more careless of their conversation, make them indeed fit fuel for those everlasting flames. Which fear of theirs we may perceive not to have been altogether causeless, when the purgatory of Origen resembleth the purgatory of the pope so nearly, that the wisest of his cardinals is so ready to mistake the one for the other. And, to speak the truth, the one is but an unhappy sprig cut off from the rotten trunk of the other; which sundry men long since endeavoured to graft upon other stocks, but could not bring unto any great perfection, until the pope's followers tried their skill upon it, with that success which now we behold. Some of the ancient, that put their hand to this work, extended the benefit of this fiery purge unto all men in general: others thought fit to restrain it unto such as some way or other bore the name of Christians; others to such Christians only as had one time or other made profession of the Catholic faith; and others to such alone as did continue in that profession until their dying day. Against all these, St. Augustine doth learnedly dispute; proving that wicked men, of what profession soever, shall be punished with everlasting perdition. And, whereas the defenders of the last opinion did ground themselves upon that place in the third chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, which the pope also doth make the principal foundation of his purgatory, although it be a probatory', and not a purgatory fire that the apostle there * Εἰ δὲ νῦν ἐκ δέου καὶ πρόσκαιρον ὀνομάσωμεν πῦρ, δέος μὴ τοῦθ ̓ ὑποπτεύσαντες εἶναι ὁι πιστοὶ τὸ αἰώνιον, καὶ πᾶν ἤδη τοιοῦτο νομίσωσι πῦρ, καντεῦθεν τὰ Ωριγένους νοσήσωσι, καὶ τὴν τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως μνήμην τῶν ψυχῶν ἀποικίσωσιν, τέλος κολάσεως θέμενοι, ὅθεν ὡς πολλὰ μὲν ἕψεται ἄτοπα, πολλὴν δὲ ἐπιδείξονται περὶ τὴν οἰκείαν πολιτείαν ἀμέλειαν, καὶ πολλὴν χορηγήσουσιν ἔλην τῇ αἰωνίῳ κολάσει, οὐδεὶς ἀγ vol. Græci, in lib. de purgatorio igne, a Bon. Vulcanio edit. Uniuscujusque opus quale sit, ignis probabit. 1 Cor. cap. 3. ver. 13. treateth of, St. Augustine maketh answer, that this" sentence of the apostle is very obscure, and to be reckoned among those things which St. Peter saith are hard to be understood in his writings, which men ought not to pervert unto their own destruction; and freely confesseth', that in this matter he would rather hear more intelligent and more learned men than himself. Yet this he deli- . vereth for his opinion: that by wood, hay, and stubble, is understood that over-great love which the faithful bear to the things of this life; and by fire, that temporal tribulation which causeth grief unto them by the loss of those things, upon which they had too much placed their affections. But "whether in this life only," saith he, "men suffer such things, or whether some such judgments also do follow after this life, the meaning which I have given of this sentence, as I suppose, abhorreth not from the truth." And again, "Whether they find the fire of transitory tribulation, burning those secular affections which are pardoned from damnation, in the other world only; or whether here and there; or whether therefore here, that they may not find them there; I gainsay it not, because peradventure it is true." And in another place: "That some such thing should be after this life, it is not incredible; and whether it be so it may be inquired, and either be found or remain hidden; that some of the faithful by a certain purgatory fire, by how much more or less they have loved these perishing goods, are so much the more slowly or sooner saved." Wherein "Augustin. de fide et operib. cap. 15. * Id. Ibid. cap. 16. y Sive ergo in hac vita tantum homines ista patiuntur, sive etiam post hanc vitam talia quædam judicia subsequuntur; non abhorret, quantum arbitror, a ratione veritatis iste intellectus hujus sententiæ. Id. ibid. cap. 16. pag. 2 Sive ibi tantum, sive hic et ibi, sive ideo hic ut non ibi, secularia (quamvis a damnatione venialia) concremantem ignem transitoriæ tribulationis inveniant ; non redarguo, quia forsitan verum est. Id. lib. 21. de civit. Dei, cap. 26. a Tale aliquid etiam post hanc vitam fieri incredibile non est, et utrum ita sit quæri potest, et aut inveniri aut latere; nonnullos fideles per ignem quendam purgatorium, quanto magis minusve bona pereuntia dilexerunt, tanto tardius citiusve salvari. Id. in enchirid. ad Laurent. cap. 69. the learned father dealeth no otherwise than when, in disputing against the same men, he is content, if they would acknowledge that the wrath of God did remain everlastingly upon the damned, to give them leave to think that their pains might some way or other be lightened or mitigated. Which yet notwithstanding, saith he, "I do not therefore affirm, because I oppose it not." What the doctors of the next succeeding ages taught herein, may appear by the writings of St. Cyril, Gennadius, Olympiodorus, and others. St. Cyril, from those last words of our Saviour upon the cross, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," delivereth this as the certain ground and foundation of our hope. "We ought to believe that the souls of the saints, when they are departed out of their bodies, are commended unto God's goodness, as unto the hands of a most dear father; and do not remain in the earth, as some of the unbelievers have imagined, until they have had the honour of burial; neither are carried, as the souls of the wicked be, unto a place of unmeasurable torment, that is, unto hell: but rather fly to the hands of the Father, this way being first prepared for us by Christ. For he delivered up his soul into the hands of his Father, that from it, and by it, a beginning being made, we might have certain hope of this thing; firmly believing, that after death we shall be in the hands of God, and shall live a far better life for ever with Christ. For therefore Paul desired to be dissolved, and to be with Christ." Gennadius, in a book wherein he purposely taketh upon him to reckon up the b Quod quidem non ideo confirmo, quoniam non refello. Id. de civit. Dei, lib. 21. cap. 24. c Quod nobis magnæ spei fundamentum atque originem præbet. Credere namque debemus, quum a corporibus sanctorum animæ abierint, tanquam in manus charissimi patris, bonitati divinæ commendari; nec, ut quidam infidelium crediderunt, in terris conversari, quousque sepulturæ honoribus affectæ sint ; nec, ut peccatorum animæ, ad immensi cruciatus locum, id est, ad inferos, deferri; itinere hoc nobis a Christo primum præparato: sed in manus potius Patris evolare. Tradidit enim animam suam manibus Genitoris, ut ab illa et per illam facto initio, certam hujus rei spem habeamus: firmiter credentes, in manibus Dei nos post mortem futuros, vitamque multo meliorem ac perpetuo cum Christo victuros. Ideo enim Paulus desideravit resolvi, et esse cum Christo. Cyrill. Alexandr. in Johann. lib, 12. Op. tom. 4. pag. 1069. particular points of doctrine received by the Church in his time, when he cometh to treat of the state of souls separated from the body, maketh no mention at all of purgatory; but layeth down this for one of his positions : "After the ascension of our Lord into heaven, the souls of all the saints are with Christ; and departing out of the body go unto Christ, expecting the resurrection of their body, that together with it they may be changed unto perfect and perpetual blessedness: as the souls of the sinners also, being placed in hell under fear, expect the resurrection of their body, that with it they may be thrust unto everlasting pain." In like manner Olympiodorus, expounding that place of Ecclesiastes, "Ife the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be;" maketh this inference thereupon: "In whatsoever place therefore, whether of light or of darkness, whether in the work of wickedness or of virtue, a man is taken at his death, in that degree and rank doth he remain, either in light with the just and Christ the King of all, or in darkness with the wicked and the prince of this world." The first whom we find directly to have held, that "fors certain light faults there is a purgatory fire" provided before the day of judgment, was Gregory the first, about the end of the sixth age after the birth of our Saviour Christ. It was his imagination, that the end of the world was then at hand; and that "ash when the night begin d Post ascensionem Domini ad cœlos, omnium sanctorum animæ cum Christo sunt; et exeuntes de corpore ad Christum vadunt, expectantes resurrectionem corporis sui, ut ad integram et perpetuam beatitudinem cum ipso pariter immutentur; sicut et peccatorum animæ, in inferno sub timore positæ, expectant resurrectionem sui corporis, ut cum ipso ad pœnam detrudantur æternam. Gennad. de ecclesiastic. dogmatib. cap. 79. e Eccles. chap. 11. ver. 3. [ Ἐν ᾧ δ ̓ ἄν τοιγαροῦν τόπῳ, εἴτε τοῦ φωτὸς εἶτε τοῦ σκότους, εἴτε τῷ τῆς κακίας ἔργῳ εἴτε τῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς, καταληφθῇ ἐν τῆ τελεύτῆ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ἐκείνῳ μένει τῷ βαθμῷ καὶ τῇ τάξει, ἢ ἐν φωτὶ μετὰ τῶν δικαίων καὶ τοῦ παμβασιλέως Χριστοῦ, ἢ ἐν τῷ σκότει μετὰ τῶν ἀδίκων Kai тоv коσμокpáropoç. Olympiodor. in Ecclesiast. cap. 11. • Sed tamen de quibusdam levibus culpis esse ante judicium purgatorius ignis credendus est, Gregor. dialog. lib. 4. cap. 39. Op. tom. 2. pag. 441. Quemadmodum cum nox finiri et dies incipit oriri, ante solis ortum simul |