who pronounceth it folly to doubt of these things. Sixtus Senensis saith', we must civilly interpret St Augustine in these his sayings; but Bellarmine2 saith directly, he sometimes doubted of the place where the souls of the just are after death; and that upon the thirty-sixth Psalm he denieth them to be there, where after the judgment they shall be. This is that Augustine that Master Higgons, in his scurril and ruffian-like phrase, saith3, was not so easily to be "jaded" by me, as Ambrose; thinking them all jades, as it seemeth, and unfit for such a horseman as he is to ride on, that have been doubtful, or found to err in this point; if he do, I would desire to know of him what he thinketh of Irenæus, who saith, that "the souls of men dying shall go into an invisible place appointed for them by God, and shall abide there till the resurrection, attending and waiting for it; and that after receiving their bodies and perfitly rising again, that is, corporally, as Christ rose, they shall come into the sight of God. Of Justin Martyr 5, who saith, "No man receiveth the reward of the things he did in this life till the resurrection; that the soul of the good thief that was crucified with Christ entered into Paradise, and is kept there till the day of resurrection and reward; that there the souls of good men do see the humanity of Christ, themselves, the things that are under them, and besides, the angels and devils." Of Tertullian, who saith: Nulli patet cœlum, terra adhuc salva, ne dixerim

1 Lib. VI. Annotat. 345. [p. 555.]

2 De Sanct. Beat. Lib. 1. cap. 5. [Tom. II. col. 709.] 3 Pag. 121. 4 "Hujus Hierusalem imago illa, quæ in priori terra Hierusalem, in qua justi præmeditantur incorruptelam, et parantur in salutem. . . . Quomodo enim vere Deus est, qui resuscitat hominem, sic et vere resurgit homo a mortuis, et non allegorice, quemadmodum per tanta ostendimus. Et sicut resurgit, sic et vere præmeditabitur incorruptelam, et ungebitur, et vigebit in regni temporibus, ut fiat capax gloriæ Patris. Deinde omnibus renovatis, vere in civitate habitabit Dei.-Iren. adv. Hær. Lib. v. cap. 35. [p. 336.]

5 Οφελος γέγονε τῷ ληστῇ εἰς τὸν Παράδεισον εἰσελθόντι, τὸ ἔργοις μαθεῖν τῆς πίστεως τὸ ὠφέλιμον, δι' ἧς ἠξιώθη τοῦ συναθροίσματος τῶν ἁγίων, ἐν ᾧ φυλάττεται ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναστάσεώς τε καὶ ἀνταπο δόσεως· ἔχει τε τοῦ Παραδείσου τὴν αἴσθησιν κατὰ τὴν ἐννοηματικὴν λεγομένην αἴσθησιν, καθ ̓ ἣν ὁρῶσιν αἱ ψυχαὶ ἑαυτάς τε, καὶ τὰ ὑπ ̓ αὐτάς· ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους τε, καὶ τοὺς δαίμονας.—Just. Mart. Quaest. lxxvi. ad Orthod. [p. 470.]

• Advers. Marcion. Lib. IV. [cap. 39. p. 456.]

[FIELD, IV.]

22

clausa; that is, "heaven is open to none, while the earth remaineth safe and whole, that I say not shut up;" and again', "Thou hast our book of Paradise, wherein we determine that every soul is sequestered, apud inferos, with them that are in the lower dwellings, till the day of the Lord." Of Lactantius, who will have no man think that souls are judged presently after death, but that they are all detained and kept in one common custody, till the time come, when the greatest judge shall examine their works. Of Victorinus Martyr, who upon those words of John in the Revelation, "I saw the souls of the slain under the altar of God," observeth, that in the time of the law there were two altars, one of gold within, another of brass without; that as heaven is understood by that golden altar that was within, to which the priests entered only once in the year; so by the brazen altar the earth is understood, under which is Infernus, a region removed from pains and fire, and the resting-place of the saints; in which the just are seen and heard of the ungodly, and yet they cannot pass one to another. Of Bernard, whose opinion3 Alphonsus à Castro confesseth to be, as I have said; and Sixtus Senensis likewise, but thinketh that he is to be excused with a benign affection, because of the exceeding great number of renowned fathers of the Church which seemed to give authority to this opinion by their testimony, amongst whom he reckoneth Ambrose for one. Lastly, of pope John the Twenty-second, who was violent in the maintenance of this opinion. These premises considered, let the reader judge whether Master Higgons had any cause to complain of "want of faithfulness and exactness" in me, in that I say, that many of the fathers thought there is no judgment to pass upon men till the last day; that all men are holden either in some place under the earth, or else in some other place appointed for that purpose; so that they come not into heaven, nor receive the reward of their labours, till the general judgment; and that many made prayers for the dead out of this conceit, such as that is in James his liturgy 5, "that God would remember all the

1 Ibid.

2 Divin. Instit. Lib. vII. cap. 21. [Max. bibl. vet. patr. Tom. III. p. 635.]

3 Lib. I. Advers. Heres. [col. 222.]

4 Ubi supra.

5 ["Præstet illos dignos venia delictorum et remissione peccato

faithful that are fallen asleep in the sleep of death since Abel the just till this present time." For I do not make this the ground of the general practice and intention of the Church in her prayers, as this shameless companion would make men believe.

(HIGGONS, Book II. Part I. § 5.)

From the four doctors of the Church, and the supposed wrongs offered to them, he proceedeth to shew that I "calumniate a worthy person, to defend the inexcusable folly of our Genevan apostle;" his meaning is, that I wrong Bellarmine to justify Calvin. But what is the wrong done to the cardinal? "Doctor Field," saith he2, "accuseth Bellarmine unjustly of trifling and senseless foolery in the question of prayer for the dead." Let the reader take the pains to peruse the place cited by Master Higgons out of my book3, and he shall find him to be a very false, unhonest, and trifling fellow in so saying. For first, I do not accuse Bellarmine of senseless foolery in the matter of prayer for the dead, (as he untruly reporteth against his own knowledge,) but in that he seeketh to calumniate Master Calvin, worthy of eternal honor, in very childish sort, about the name of merit. Calvin saith, "the fathers were far from the popish error touching merit, and yet they used the word, whence men have since taken occasion of error;" therefore, saith Bellarmine, "he dissenteth from all antiquity, and acknowledgeth the Roman faith to be the ancient faith and religion." This is Bellarmine's form of reasoning against Calvin, if he say anything; which whether it be full of senseless foolery or not, I will refer it to the judgment of any one that hath his senses. Yet notwithstanding, Master Higgons goeth on, and maketh a consolatory conclusion, that Bellarmine needeth not to be discontented that I have thus wronged him, seeing I have likewise unjustly accused the fathers. But if he may be as justly charged with foolery in

rum; nosque et illos pervenire faciat ad regnum suum in cœlis."Liturgia Jacobi, apud Renaudot. Liturg. Orient. Tom. I. p. 37.]

3 Third Book of the Church, ch. XVII. [Vol. 1. p. 209.]

4 Pag. 130.

his manner of reasoning against Calvin, as the fathers are truly reported to have holden the opinion imputed to them by me, as there is no question but he may, I think this comfortable conclusion will not be very cordial unto him. Secondly, I do not say that Bellarmine doth trifle in the question of prayer for the dead; as he likewise, adding one lie to another, saith I do; but in proving the doctrine of the Roman Church that now is, to be the same with that which was of old. And therefore silly Master Higgons knoweth not what he writeth. But that Bellarmine doth indeed (whatsoever this trifler saith to the contrary) egregiously trifle, I will demonstrate to the reader in such sort, that neither Higgons, nor any of his new masters, shall be able to avoid. Thus, therefore, the case standeth. Bellarmine, in his discourse of the Notes of the Church, (not in the particular question of prayer for the dead,) undertaketh to prove the conspiring of the present Roman Church with the true catholic Church that was of old. This he saith may be proved by producing the sayings and sentences of the fathers touching every particular controversy now on foot; but because this would be a tedious course, he saith there is another shorter and certainer way, by demonstrating out of the confession of protestant writers, first, that the points now defended by papists are the doctrines of all the ancient; secondly, that the doctrine of the protestants was condemned by the ancient Church. Touching the first, he goeth about to prove that protestants confess the points of popish doctrine to be the doctrine of the ancient, because Calvin, in his Institutions, when he oppugneth the assertion of papists, confesseth, that in so doing he opposeth himself against all antiquity. Amongst other particulars, he giveth instance of prayer for the dead. So that the thing which the cardinal is to prove is this: that Calvin, impugning the popish manner of prayer for the dead, to deliver men out of purgatory, confesseth himself, in so doing, to be opposite to all antiquity; and consequently, that all antiquity believed purgatory, and admitted a necessity of praying for the deliverance of men out of it. This he doth not, but is forced to confess that Calvin affirmeth, that the doctrine of purgatory, and prayer to deliver men thence, was unknown to all antiquity whence it followeth unavoidably, that the cardinal 1 Lib. IV. de Notis Eccles. cap. 9. [Tom. II. col. 184.]

doth nothing but trifle; for if to talk idly, and not to conclude the thing intended, be to trifle, he is found to do so most grossly. Neither doth it help the matter that Calvin confesseth, that many of the fathers were led into error in the matter of prayer for the dead, as namely, such as thought they might suspend, mitigate, or wholly take away the pains or punishments of men in hell; for these errors the Romanists condemn, and dislike as much as we; but saith Master Higgons, Master Calvin' confesseth the action of praying for the dead was performed by the ancient, howsoever he litigate about the intention. It is true he doth so; but his confession maketh neither hot nor cold to anything now in controversy and question between us and the papists. Wherefore, to silence this prattler, that multiplieth vain words, without all sense or reason, first we say, that neither Calvin, or any of us, did ever simply condemn all prayer for the dead; for we all pray for the resurrection, public acquittal in the day of Christ, and perfit consummation of them that are dead in the Lord; and therefore the general practice and intention of the ancient in praying for the dead is not condemned by us. Secondly, we say, that some of the ancient prayed for the dead in such sort as neither we nor the Romanists dare allow, as for the suspension, mitigation, or releasing of the pains of such as are in hell; and so were carried into error, as Calvin rightly noteth. Thirdly, we say, that never any man amongst the ancients knew anything of purgatory, or the popish manner of praying to deliver men thence. So that I trifle not in accusing Bellarmine, and defending Calvin, as he is pleased to tell me I do in the front and title of his next ensuing chapter. But he talketh idly, as his manner is.

(HIGGONS, Book II. Part I. § 6.)

His next challenge is2, that I make an "untrue construction of the heresy of Arius," condemning the commendations of the dead used in the Church at that time. For the clearing whereof we must make a difference between the general practice and intention of the Church, and the private opinion and conceit of some particular men in the Church. The general practice of the Church was, first, to name the names of 1 Pag. 133. 2 Pag. 134.