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Show 1101.4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap.44. my Power 5 nay you that (ball crucifie me, (hall be pardoned by mee, asoften as ou turne unto mee by Repentance : But if you deny the Power oft em that teach you hereafter,by vertuc of the Holy G_hofl, they {hall beinexorable, and {hall not forgive you, but perlecure you in this World, and leave you Without abfolution,(though you turn to me, unlefre you turn alfo to them , ) to the puniihments (as much as lies in them)ofthe World to come: And (0 the words may betaken asaProphecy, or Prxdiction concerning the times, asthey have along been in the Chrifiian Church : Or if this be not the mean i i 1',i i Mi Ei i i i i i i ning, ( for I am not peremptory in {uch difficult places,) perhaps" there may be place left after the Refurreé‘tion for the Repentance or fome finners: And there is alfo another place, that feemeth to agree therewith. For confidering the words ot‘St. Paul ( 1 Car. t5. 29.) What flm/l they doe which are Baptized for the dead, rfthe deed rife not at allc‘ why aifa are the} Elfin-{ltd far the dead: a man may probably inferrc, as fome have done, that in St. Pauls time, there was a cuflome by receiving Baptifme for the dead, ( as men that now beleeve, are Sureties and Undertakers for the Faith of In- fants, that are not capable of beleeving,) to undertake for the per- fons of their deceafed friends, that they fliould be ready to obey,and receive our Saviour for their King, at his coming again-7 and then the forgiveneffe of fins in the world to come,has no need ofa Purgatory. Butin both thefeinterpretations, there is fo much or paradox, that I trufl not to them-,but propound them to thofe that are through- ly verfed in the Scripture, to inquire ifthcre be no clearer place that contradicts them. Oner ofthus much, Ifce evident Scripture, to per-{wade me, that there is neither the word, nor the thing of Purga- tory, neither in this, nor any other text; nor any thing that can prove aneceflit ofa place for the Soulewithoutrhe Body-,neither for the Soule ofhazarus during the four days he was dead; nor for the m", 4, (i F I) A R [CNE S S E. Chap.44. Doctrines that be erroneous , that they {hall not be confumed in that fire which rcneweth the world, but {hall pafle through it to Salvati- on; but {0, as to fee , and relinquiih their former Errours. The Builders, are the Paflorr, the Foundation, that [e w :3 the C/mfl-the Stubble and Hay, Fa!{e Cmfeqnemer ilrmvnfi‘om it through Ivizorrhm or meliy, the Gold, Silver, and pretious Stones,are their 'friie Due: trims, and their Refining or Purging, the Relmqm/hmg of their Errcrs. In all which there is no colour at all for the burni nv of 1m corporeall, that is to fay, Impatible Souls. D Athird place is that oh Car. 15. before mentioned conce rnin g Bapiifme for Bapti ‘ , fiue for the . Dead : out ofwhi ch he concludeth, fiifi,that Pray- the Dead bow - eis forthe Dead are not unprofitable; and out ofthat, that there isa under/1003. fire or Purgatory : But neither ofthem rightly. For ofma ny interpretationsorthe word Baptihne,he approveth this in the that by Baptiiine is meant ( metaphorically ) a Baptiline firth place of PenanceZ and that men are inthis {enie Baptized, when they Faft and Pray) and give Almes : And lo Baptifmc for the Dead, and Pr'aye Deadus the fame thing.But this is a Metaphor, ofwhich r for thd is no examplemeither in the Scripture, norin any other life of there language; and whichisalio dilcordant to the h;irmony,and {cope of the tiire.Tlie word Baptiiitie is lll-Cci(rlli'tr. 10.38.&Luk.12.50.)rb Scri r being Dipped in ones own bloud,as Chrift was upon the Crois ,and as mofls oi the Apoitles were,tor git'ing tellirnony of him.But it is Liy, that Prayer, lilting, and Almes, have any {imili hard to tude with Dipping. ‘fhe Lime is uied 31mm. 3. r t. (which feemeth to make loinewhattor Purgatory) foraPurging with Fire. But it is evi- dent the lire and Purging here mentioned, is the iiiinc where of the Prophet zit/trey i‘pealteth ( chap. 1 3. v.9. ) [mi/[hririq the thim' part t/irixigh :he Fire, ima' rel/[Refine them, (five. And St. Peter after him (1 Lpiil. x. 7.) That the mall ofyimr Faith, which it much morep re- Soules of them whichthc Romane Church pretend to be tormented (sum than of (iola'tha! pert/heth) though it he tryeelwtth Fire , might now in Purgatory. For God, that could give a life to a peece ot‘clay, hath the fame power to give life again to a dead man, and renew his he found imto [mil/e, and hoiiarir, art/l glary at the v Appearing of [Effie Chit/3'; And St. Paul (1 (for. 3.13. ) 'Ihe Fire/hall me every man: were of what [m I! II. But St. Peter, and St. Paul {peak of the Fire that ihall be at the Second Appearing otCliriittand the Prophet Za- inanimate, and rotten Cai'kaffe, into a glorious,fpiritu;ill,and llanl‘r tall Bod . Anotier place is thatof 1 Cor. 3. where it is (aid, that they chary or'tlie Day oiihllldglllc‘ntl And therefore-this place otS.Mar. which built Stubble, Hay,&c. onthe true Foundation, their work i may be interpreted or the iluiie, and then there Will be no neceih ty of {hall periih, but they themjel'ver (ha/[hr flawed, hut ii: through fire: l This Fire, he will have to be the Fire or‘l'urgatory. The words,as I have laid before, are an allufionto more of Zach. 13. 9. "litre the lire oi l'tllithOl‘y. Another interpretation of Baptiihie forthe Dead , is that which I liai'ebt-lore mentioned, which hepretkrrethtothe {econd place of. probability: Andrhencc alliohe interreth the utility of Prayer for the Dead. l'worir‘at‘ter the Reliirrec‘tion, inch as have not heard of i i l i hc faith, I will hrihg the thirdpart through the fire, and refine them a: Silt/err: refined, melm‘lltry them a: Ga/drstryed: Which is 1p.)ken ofthccomming ofthe Mefliah in Power and Glory.7 tlutix‘, .1: Chriit, or not belceved in him, may be received into Chriits King- the day of]udgment,and Conflagrarion of the prefent worldgwhere- dome, it is notin vain, after their death , that their friends fhould In the Eleét (hall not be confumed, but be refined; that is , pray for them, tillthey ihould be rifen. lint granting that God, at the prayers or the faithfull, may convert unto him fome of thofe depot: their erroneous Doctrines, and Traditions, and have them as it "'ch fil‘dg‘Zd Off-,and [hall afterwards call upon the name or‘the mi GQd- In like manner, the Apofileiaith of them , that holding this Foundation leftist: the Chrlfl, 111311 build thcrt‘on tome o:her D ~;"':i‘..>' that have not heard Chrilt preached, and conieiluently canno t have rejected Chrifl, and that the charity of men in that point, cannot be blamed; yet this concludeth nothing for Purgatory, bf‘1' y caiiie |