the world: the cursed are driven into the everlasting fire that is prepared for the Devil and his angels." Thus far there.

Hitherto also may be referred that ancient canon of one of our Irish synods, wherein it is affirmed, that the soul being separated from the body is "presented" before the judgment seat of Christ, who rendereth its own unto it, according as it hath done:" and that "neither the archangel can lead it unto life, until the Lord hath judged it, nor the devil transport it unto pain, unless the Lord do damn it;" as the sayings of Sedulius likewise, that after the end of this life," either death or life succeedeth," and that "death is the gate by which we enter into our kingdom :" together with that of Claudius; that "Christ' did take upon him our punishment without the guilt, that thereby he might loose our guilt, and finish also our punishment." Cardinal Bellarmine indeed allegeth here against us the vision of Furseus, who "rising from the dead, told many things which he saw concerning the pains of purgatory," as Bede, he saith, doth write. But, by his good leave, we will be better advised, before we build articles of faith upon such visions and dreams as these, many whereof deserve to have a place among "the" strange narrations of souls appearing after death," collected by Damascius the heathen idolater, rather than among the histories and discourses of sober Christians.

b Custodit animam usque dum steterit ante tribunal Christi; cui refert sua prout gesserit propria. Nec archangelus potest ducere ad vitam, usque dum judicaverit eam Dominus; nec Diabolus ad pœnam traducere, nisi Dominus damnaverit eam. Synod. Hibern. in vet. cod. canonum, titulorum 66. MS. in bibliotheca D. Roberti Cottoni. Cujus initium: Inter vetera concilia, quatuor esse venerabiles synodos, &c.

i Finem dixit exitum vitæ et actuum; cui aut mors, aut vita succedit. Sedul. in Rom. cap. 7.

* Mors porta est, per quam itur ad regnum. Id. in 1 Cor. cap. 3.

Suscepit Christus sine reatu supplicium nostrum ; ut inde solveret reatum nostrum, et finiret etiam supplicium nostrum. Claud. in Galat. cap. 3.

m Beda lib. 3. hist. Anglor. cap. 19. scribit, B. Furseum a mortuis resurgentem narrasse multa, quæ vidit de purgatoriis poenis. Bellarm. de Purgator. lib. 1. cap. 11.

n

Δαμασκίου, περὶ τῶν μετὰ θάνατον ἐπιφαινομένων ψυχῶν, παραδόžav dinynμátwv kɛpáλaιa pè. Phot. Bibliothec. num. 130.

As for this vision of Furseus: all that Bede relateth of it to this purpose, is concerning certain great fires above the air, appointed to "examine every one according to the merits of his works," which peradventure may make something for Damascius his purgatory in Circulo lacteo (for in that circle made he a way for the souls that went to the hades in heaven; and would not have us wonder, that there they should be purged by the way :) but nothing for the papists' purgatory, which Bellarmine by the common consent of the schoolmen determineth to be within the bowels of the earth. Neither is there any thing else in the whole book of the life of Furseus, whence Bede borrowed these things that looketh toward purgatory, unless peradventure that speech of the Devil may be thought to give some advantage unto it. "This man

hath not purged his sins upon earth; neither doth he receive punishment for them here. Where is therefore the justice of God?" as if God's justice were not sufficiently satisfied by the sufferings of Christ; but man also must needs give further satisfaction thereunto by penal works or sufferings, either here, or in the other world, which is the ground, upon which our Romanists do lay the rotten frame of their devised purgatory.

The latter visions of Malachias, Tundal, Owen, and others that lived within these last five hundred years, come not within the compass of our present inquiry: nor yet the fables that have been framed in those times, touching the lives and actions of elder saints, whereof no wise man will make any reckoning. Such, for example, is that which we read in the life of St. Brendan: that the

• Etsi terribilis iste et grandis rogus videtur, tamen juxta merita operum singulos examinat: quia uniuscujusque cupiditas in hoc igne ardebit. Bed. lib. 3. cap. 19.

. Ὁ ὁδός ἐστι τὸ γάλα τῶν διαπορευομένων τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ ἅδην. Damasc. apud Jo. Philoponum in 1. Meteor. fol. 104. b.

4 Καὶ οὐ θαύμαστον, εἰ καὶ ψυχαί καθαίρονται ἐν τούτῳ τῷ κύκλῳ τῆς ἐν οὐρανῷ γενέσεως. Id. ibid.

r. Hic homo non purgavit delicta sua in terra, nec vindictam hic recipit. Ubi est ergo justitia Dei? Lib. vitæ Fursei.

question being moved in his hearing, "Whether the sins of the dead could be redeemed by the prayers or almsdeeds of their friends remaining in this life," for that was still a question in the church, he is said to have told them, that on a certain night, as he sailed in the great ocean, the soul of one Colman, who " had been an angry monk, and a sower of discord betwixt brethren," appeared unto him, who complaining of his grievous torments, entreated that prayers might be made to God for him, and after six days thankfully acknowledged that by means thereof he had gotten into heaven. Whereupon it is concluded, "that" the prayer of the living doth profit much the dead." But of St. Brendan's sea pilgrimage, we have the censure of Molanus, a learned Romanist, that there be "many" apocryphal fooleries" in it: and whosoever readeth the same with any judgment, cannot choose but pronounce of it, as Photius doth of the strange narrations of Damascius, formerly mentioned; that it containeth not only apocryphal, but also "impossible, incredible, illcomposed, and monstrous" fooleries. Whereof though the old legend itself were not free, as by the heads thereof, touched by Glaber Rodulphus and Giraldus Cambrensis, may appear, yet for the tale that I recited out of the new legend of England, I can say, that in the manuscript books which I have met withal here, in St. Brendan's own country, (one whereof was transcribed for the use of the friars minors of Kilkenny, about the year of our Lord one thousand three hundred and fifty,) there is not the least footstep thereof to be seen.

⚫ Si peccata mortuorum redimi possunt ab amicis suis remanentibus in hac vita; orando, vel eleemosynas faciendo. Vit. Brendani, in Legenda Jo. Capgravii.

Colmannus, inquit, vocor: qui fui monachus iracundus, discordiæque seminator inter fratres. Ibid.

" In hoc ergo, dilectissimi, apparet: quo oratio vivorum multum mortuis prodest. Ib.

w Multa apocrypha deliramenta. Molan. Usuard. martyrolog. Mai. 26.

* ἀδύνατα τε καὶ ἀπίθανα, καὶ κακόπλαστα τερατολογήματα καὶ μωρά. Phot. Bibliothec. num. 130.

y Nova Legenda Angliæ. impress. Londin, ann. 1516.

And this is a thing very observable in the more ancient lives of our saints, (such, I mean, as have been written before the time of Satan's loosing, beyond which we do. not now look), that the prayers and oblations for the dead mentioned therein, are expressly noted to have been made for them, whose souls were supposed at the same instant to have rested in bliss. So Adamnanus reporteth that St. Colme, called by the Irish, both in Bede's' and our days, Columb-kill, caused all things to be prepared for the sacred ministry of the eucharist, when he had seen the soul of St. Brendan received by the holy angels; and that he did the like when Columbanus, bishop of Leinster, departed this life: for "I must to day (saith St. Colme there) although I be unworthy, celebrate the holy mysteries of the Eucharist, for the reverence of that soul which this night, carried beyond the starry firmament betwixt the holy choirs of angels, ascended into paradise." Whereby it appeareth, that an honourable commemoration of the dead was herein intended, and a sacrifice of thanksgiving for their salvation rather than of propitiation for their sins. In Bede also we find mention of the like obsequies celebrated by St. Cuthbert for one Hadwaldus; after he "had seen his soul carried by the hands of angels unto the joys of the kingdom of heaven." So Gallus and Magnus (as Walafridus Strabus relateth in the life of the one, and Theodorus Campidonensis, or whosoever else was author of the life of the other)" said mass (which what it was in those days we shall afterwards

? Qui videlicet Columba nunc a nonnullis, composito a cella et Columba nomine, Colum-celli vocatur. Bed. lib. 5. hist. cap. 10.

a Adamnan. vit. Columb. lib. 3. cap. 15.

b Meque (ait) hodie, quamlibet indignus sim, ob venerationem illius animæ, quæ hac in nocte inter sanctos angelorum choros vecta ultra siderea cœlorum spatia ad paradisum ascendit, sacra oportet eucharistiæ celebrare mysteria. Ib. cap. 16.

Vidi, inquit, animam cujusdam sancti manibus angelicis ad gaudia regni cœlestis ferri. Bed. in vit. Cuthbert. cap. 34.

d Cœperunt missas agere, et precibus insistere pro commemoratione B. Columbani. Walafrid. vit. Gall. lib. 1. cap. 26. Theodor. vit. Magni lib. 1. cap. ult. edit. Goldasti, cap. 12. Canisii.

VOL. IV.

T

hear) and were instant in prayers for the commemoration of abbot Columbanus" their countryman, "frequenting the memory of that great father with holy prayers and healthful sacrifices." Where that speech of Gallus unto his deacon Magnus or Magnoaldus, is worthy of special consideration; "After this night's watch I understood by a vision, that my master and father, Columbanus, is to day departed out of the miseries of this life unto the joys of paradise. For his rest therefore I ought to offer the sacrifice of salvation." In like manner also, when Gallus himself died," Johns bishop of Constance prayed to the Lord for his rest, and offered healthful sacrifices for him:" although he were certainly persuaded that he had attained the blessing of everlasting life, as may be seen in Walafridus. And when Magnus afterwards was in his death-bed, he is said to have used these words unto Tozzo bishop of Ausborough, that came to visit him: "Do not weep, reverend prelate, because thou beholdest me labouring in so many storms of worldly troubles: because I believe in the mercy of God, that my soul shall rejoice in the freedom of immortality; yet I beseech thee, that thou wilt not cease to help me a sinner, and my soul with thy holy prayers." Then followeth, that at the time of his departure, this voice was heard: "Come', Magnus,

⚫ Deinde tanti patris memoriam precibus sacris et sacrificiis salutaribus frequentaverunt. Ibid.

Post hujus vigilias noctis, cognovi per visionem, dominum et patrem meum Columbanum de hujus vitæ angustiis hodie ad paradisi gaudia commigrasse. Pro ejus itaque requie sacrificium salutis debeo immolare. Ibid.

Presbyter eum ut surgeret monuit, et pro requie defuncti ambitiosius Dominum precaretur. Intraverunt itaque Ecclesias, et episcopus pro carissimo salutares hostias immolavit amico. Finito autem fraternæ commemorationis obsequio, &c. Walafrid. Strab. vit. Gall. lib. 1. cap. 30. qui etiam addit postea, Discipulos ejus, pariter cum episcopo orationem pro illo fecisse. cap. 33.

h Noli flere, venerabilis præsul, quia me in tot mundialium perturbationum procellis laborantem conspicis: quoniam credo in misericordia Dei, quod anima mea in immortalitatis libertate sit gavisura; tamen deprecor, ut orationibus tuis sanctis me peccatorem et animam meam non desinas adjuvare. Theodor. Campidon. vel quicunque author fuit vitæ Magni, lib. 2. cap. 13. edit. Goldasti, cap. 28. Canisii.

i Veni, Magne, veni; accipe coronam quam tibi Dominus præparatam habet.