SECT. IV.

That the Principles of Right Reason do not engage us to the Belief of Purgatory.

AND first, thus they argue: "There are some sins in their own nature veniala, and worthy only of a temporal punishment: but it is possible a man may depart out of this life with such only therefore it is necessary that he may be purged in another life."

To this rope of sand, rather than argument, I reply, 1st, that the supposition it goes upon is false; 2dly, that the conclusion it infers is inconsequent. For the former of these; that some sins are less than others, it is confessed; but that any sins are properly venial, we deny. To be venial, is to be worthy of pardon, or not to deserve punishment; but whatsoever does not deserve punishment can be no sin, for all sin infers an obligation to punishment; and therefore, to be a sin, and yet be venial, is in proper terms no better than a flat contradiction. Again, the sins here spoken of are supposed to be worthy of a temporal punishment; but sins that are worthy of a temporal punishment are not properly venial; therefore, either the sins here spoken of must not deserve even a temporal punishment, or they cannot be said to be properly venial.

But, 2dly, be the sins, as they desire, venial; how does it from hence follow that it is necessary that these be punished in another life? And why is not the blood of Christ, which cleanses the greatest sins, a sufficient purgatory for the least infirmities? Venial sins are by themselves confessed to be entirely consistent with the grace of God; nay, so consistent, as not to destroy, or but even lessen it. Now for a Christian, who has lived so well as to be still in the grace and favour of God; that has received an actual pardon of all his other sins, through the merits and satisfaction of Christ, so as to be absolutely certain of a crown of glory for ever; to think that such a one, I say, shall be punished with torments, inferior in nothing but the duration to those of hell-fire itself, for such slips and infirmities as the best of men are encompassed with, and

a Bellarm. de Purg. l. 1. c. 11. p. 609. C.

which no man can ever hope perfectly to overcome; and this, notwithstanding all the promises of mercy and forgiveness which God has declared to us; this certainly is so far from being a dictate of right reason, that it is impossible for any one that has any reason at all, and is not exceedingly carried away with prejudice for his opinion, ever to believe it.

Again, 2dly, thus they argue: "When sinners are reconciled to God, the whole temporal pain is not always remitted with the sin now it may happen, and often does happen, that in a man's whole life he does not fully satisfy for that temporal pain; and therefore there must be a purgatory wherein to do it."

I answer, That this too proceeds upon a false supposition, that God when he forgives our sins does not also forgive the entire obligation to punishment which by our sins we stood engaged to, and which both scripture and reason contradict.

1st, That God does sometimes afflict those persons whose sins he forgives, whether to prove, or to amend, or to secure them for the future; this it is confessed we read in scripture; and that this is most reasonable cannot be denied, upon the account of those excellent ends that are to be served thereby, both to the benefit of the sinner, and to warn others, by his example, not to offend. But where is there any mention of any thing of this kind, either threatened or done in another life? What end is there to be served in this? When men go to purgatory, they are already in the grace of God, or otherwise they could not come thither; they are already forgiven their sins, and secure of their salvation. The punishments therefore of that place can serve no end, either of improving him that suffers them, or of keeping others, by his example, from offending. Add to this, that the justice of God is already entirely satisfied by the merits and sufferings of Christ: so that then these punishments can be inflicted for no other purpose than for the delight God takes in punishing. But to say that God delights in the punishment of any, much more of good men, who are his children, who love him, and whom, therefore, he both loves and intends to glorify to all eternity; this is certainly to advance a notion unworthy of God, and

c Bellarm. de Purg. 1. 1. c. 11. p. 610. C.

contrary to all those kind and endearing ideas which the holy scriptures have given us of him; and therefore ought not, without evident proof, which is not so much as pretended to by them, to be admitted.

2dly, When we say that God forgives sin, we must understand by it one of these two things, viz. that he remits either the stain or the guilt of it. For by sin there are only these two contracted. As for the stain or pollution of sin, that is not properly forgiven, but is washed away by God's sanctifying grace, upon our repentance and reconciliation to him: and for the guilt, that is nothing else but that obligation to punishment which every man by sinning renders himself obnoxious to; so that to remit the guilt is to remit the obligation to punishment. To say, therefore, that God forgives the guilt of sin, and yet that our obligation to punishment remains, is in effect to say that God forgives the guilt which he does not forgive, which must be a contradiction.

But may not God forgive the guilt, as to the obligation it lays upon us to eternal punishment, and yet retain it as to a temporal one? No doubt he may, and had he declared that he would do so, we must have believed it. But then this would not have been properly to forgive the guilt, but to commute it, to lessen it. And since neither has he any where declared that this is all he does when he forgives sins, nor does his justice require that he should do no more; but especially, seeing whereever God speaks of the remission of sins, he does it without restriction, in the most large, comprehensive terms that can be imagined; we see no cause either to suspect his goodness or to lessen his mercy by our own arbitrary and ungrounded limitations.

But, 3dly, there is yet another argument, and it is thisd: "The opinion that takes away purgatory is not only false but pernicious; for it makes men lazy in avoiding sinning, and in the doing of good works. Whilst he that believes that there is no purgatory, but that all sins are abolished by death to those that die in faith, saith to himself, To what purpose do I labour in fastings and prayer, in continence and almsdeeds? Why do I defraud my heart of its delights and plead Bellarm. de Purg. l. 1. c. 11. p. 613. D.

sures, since at my death, my sins, whether few or many, shall all be done away."

Habeat jam RoмA pudorem;

Tertius e cœlo cecidit Cato.

For is not this rare cant? To hear those, who have taken away the fears of hell, with a demure countenance exclaim against us as wicked, in throwing off so great an engagement to piety, as, if you will believe it, they esteem purgatory to be? But yet, since the point is brought at last to this issue, let us see the comparison.

1st, We who deny purgatory thus press the practice of good works upon our auditors: That God, to whom we are engaged by all imaginable ties of love, duty, and gratitude, expressly requires them of us, as the only means to retain his favour. That if we be zealous in his service now, we shall certainly receive an eternal weight of bliss and glory in his kingdom. But that if we be careless and negligent of our duty, nothing but everlasting torments shall remain for us. That, let us not deceive ourselves, or flatter our souls with any new ways of getting to heaven; without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord. Repentance is the only thing that by faith can reconcile us to his favour; and repentance cannot be true, except there be a true love of God, and an utter detestation of sin, and a hearty contrition that we have ever committed it; and a steadfast resolution never to fall any more into it; and this improved in an actual, sincere endeavour, what in us lies, to abound in good works, and fulfil that duty which he requires of us. That without this, it is not any power or authority of the church absolving us from our sins; any pardons or indulgences, either before or after our commission of them, that can stand us in any stead, or restore us to God's favour and the hopes of salvation. But that if we do this, then indeed we may assure ourselves of his acceptance; we may raise our hopes to the blessings that he has promised; and that we may be the more encouraged to pursue them, may assure ourselves that all those joys which he has prepared for us, and which it does not now enter into the heart of man even to conceive any thing of as he ought to do, are not at any great distance: as soon as ever we have finished our course here, we shall pre

sently be translated, if not to a perfect fruition of them, yet to such an antepast, as shall be more than a sufficient reward for all our endeavours in the pursuit of them.

This is the method of our preaching: let us now set cardinal Bellarmine in the pulpit, and see how much more effectually he will press these things upon his congregation. And because I would not make the worst of the matter, we will not consider him in quality of a Jesuit, instructing the people by artifice and distinction, how to evacuate the whole morality of the gospel, by stating precisely the point, how often a man is obliged to love God? whether upon all Sundays and holydays? or only once a year? or once in five years? or but any one time in a man's whole life? or, finally, not at all, neither living nor dying? This were, it may be, to carry matters too far; we will stop within the bounds of their more common belief.

And here, first of all, as is most fitting, we must be sure to put them often in mind of the obedience they owe to the church of the high opinions they ought always to retain of her, and of that entire submission wherewith they are to yield themselves up to her conduct. That they be sure not to fail to go to mass every Sunday and holyday; that they eat no flesh on any of the fasts of the church, unless they are otherwise dispensed with to the contrary; that once at least every year they receive the sacrament; and before they do so, that they fail not to go to confession; that they make no doubt but by the priest's absolution they are certainly forgiven their sins, whatsoever they were; that indeed it were well that they were contrite for them; but if they are not, it is all one, attrition, with the sacrament of penance, does the same thing: that this, therefore, sets them free of all danger of hell, so that be their lives what they will, there is no great fear of that; but yet, that to secure their piety, the church has thought fit to discover to them another very terrible place, called purgatory, whither they must go to satisfy for their sins before they can get to heaven. That, indeed, let them live how they will, hither they must come: but yet, let them not be discouraged; there are several secret ways of avoiding it, with infinitely more security than the best life in the world can give them. First, an indulgence may be had, and that