the redemption of mankind is altogither vncertain and vnsufficient if our head being God and man could doe no more but by long struggling wind himselfe out of Satans clawes We must confesse an other kind of conquest before the kingdome of Christ can ouerrule all as it must and his Church bee secure from the gates of hell to wit that ALL POVVER in heauen and earth was giuen vnto him that EVERIE KNEE in heauen and earth and hell bowed vnto him that he had and hath THE KEIES of death and OF HELL and could RVLE his enemies with a rodde of yron and breake them like a potters vessell that by his death hee DESTROIED him that was the ruler of death euen the diuell This conquest Christ purchased by his passion but he did not execute it till his resurrection otherwise he could not haue died if death on the crosse had beene throughlie conquered But hee was humbled and exinanited on the crosse euen vnto death that he might after in his resurrection bee exalted and replenished with all honour power and principalitie in heauen earth and hell Howbeit of the time VVHEN hee triumphed wee shall afterwarde speake we nowe obserue VVHAT hee did in his triumph ouer hell and Satan and by the Scriptures wee finde that Christ ENTERED Satans house TIED him and SPOILED his goodes or as the Apostle expresseth it hee SPOILED POVVERS PRINCIPALITIES MADE AN OPEN SHEVV of them and TRIVMPHED OVER THEM IN HIS OVVNE PERSON And least I be thought to pretend an ancient and vniforme reading of Paules wordes in this place without iust proofe let vs see what ancient fathers haue followed the same The Siriacke translation of the newe Testament which is of no small antiquitie readeth IN SEMETIPSO IN HIS OVVNE PERSON as I doe So do Origen in Epistola ad Romanos lib. 5. cap. 5. Epiphanius in Anchorato contra Pneumatomacheos haeres 74. Chrysostome homili 6. in 2. ca. ad Colos and Theodorete likewise in 2. cap. ad Colos. Of the Latine Fathers in whome it maie better bee distinguished the booke de Trinitate vnder Tertullians name Augustine contra Faustum lib. 16. cap. 29. Epistola 59. a Hilarius de Trinitate lib. 1. lib. 9. Fulgentius ad Thrasimundum lib. 3. Hieronymus in cap. 2. ad Colos. Ambrose vpon the same place Ruffinus in Symbolum Apostolicum and so throughout the Latine Church without anie dissenting Onelie the Greeke collections vnder Oâ—cumenius name referre that triumph which saint Paul here speaketh of to the Crosse saying that Christ shamed and confounded the diuell on the crosse in that he was openlie crucified in the eies of all the people And although I condemne not the sense as false that Christ wrestled with Satan on the crosse and euen there ouermaistred his power yet that Christ had no further or greater triumph ouer hell and Satan then by dying on the crosse in the sight of men doth vtterlie abolish the glorie of his resurrection and contradicteth the whole course of the scriptures By his suffering and dying on the crosse hee deserued and purchased the exaltation and triumph which he had afterwards when he rose from the dead and euen before he died he was fullie assured that neither his soule should be left in hell nor his flesh see corruption but that God would raise him again and giue him all power in heauen and earth and make all knees in heauen earth and hell to bow vnto him and place him at his right hand in the brightnesse of eternall glorie It may therefore be confessed beléeued that Christ ouerthrew Satan on the crosse and so triumphed in spirit against him or had a spirituall triumph ouer him as Dauid foretolde when he said in the person of Christ Mine heart was glad and my tongue ioyfull yea my flesh shall rest in hope but that the glorie of his resurrection did not farre excell the shame of his passion and that his rising from the deade was no more victorious and triumphant then his yeelding himselfe vnto death is directlie repugnant to the truth of the scriptures Though he were CRVCIFIED THROVGH INFIRMITIE yet liueth he saith Paul through THE POVVER of God So that to die euen in Christ was infirmitie though voluntarie to liue againe as hee liueth in the height of celestiall glorie was a cleare demonstration of the power of God in him He was declared to be the son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead Insomuch that if Christ had died and not risen againe his conquest had not beene woorth the speaking of If Christ bee not raised your faith is in vaine saith Paule and ye are yet in your sinnes Christes death then without his resurrection had béene a full conquest of Satan ouer Christ and all his members That which Paule sayeth is true as well in Christ as in vs It is sowen in dishonour it is raised in glorie it is sowen in VVEAKENESSE it is raised in power Since then in the death and crosse of Christ the holie ghost noteth reproach shame and weakenesse wee do foulie erre if wee ascribe no greater nor other triumph to Christ ouer death and hell then his crosse and passion These things Christ was to suffer and so to enter into his glorie but we must make as great difference betwixt his dying and his rising againe as wee woulde betwixt his weakenesse and his power his conflict and his conquest his depression and his exaltation his suffering in reproch and his raigning in glorie For the better euidence whereof you shall see the holie scriptures at large expresse the verie same parts and the verie same time which I obserued vnto you Christ humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto the death euen the death of the crosse WHEREFORE God also highly EXALTED him and gaue him a name aboue euery name that at the name of Iesus euery KNEE SHOVLD BOVV of things IN HEAVEN IN EARTH AND BENEATH THE EARTH Under the earth are no reasonable creatures to kneele to Christs person and scepter but the damned spirits and soules in hell except we take holde of Purgatorie or Limbus patrum the elect in heauen doe willinglie serue him such as liue on earth doe endure his iustice or loue his mercie the spirits beneath doe finde his truth and feele his hand the most aduerse acknowledge his name and feare his force This exaltation of Christ to raigne ouer heauen earth and hell came after his death as being the rewarde and effect of his obedience vnto death So saith the Apostle He humbled himselfe and became obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse. WHEREFORE or for which cause God highlie exalted him that in the name of Iesus all knees in heauen earth and hell should bowe Then on the crosse or afore his death the time was not yet come that Christ should be thus exalted but there rather was the time and place of
his humiliation and when he rose againe all power in heauen and earth was giuen vnto him I was dead saith hee himselfe and behold I am aliue for euermore and I HAVE THE KEIES OF HELL AND OF DEATH that is all power ouer death and hell to shut and no man may open to open and no man may shut The Prophet Esay pointeth to the verie same CAVSE and TIME of Christes exaltation BECAVSE he hath powred out his soule vnto death THEREFORE will I giue him his portion with the great and hee shall diuide the spoiles with the mightie If FOR THAT CAVSE then AFTER THAT TIME Christ diuided the spoyles of the mightie or as the Apostle speaketh hee spoyled powers and principalities And noting exactlie the TIME of Christes triumph the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ASCENDING ON HIGH HE LED CAPTIVITIE CAPTIVE This that hee ascended what meaneth it but that hee first descended into the lower partes of the earth Christ did not leade captiuitie captiue when hee descended into the lower partes of the earth but when hee ascended from thence The Diuels then which helde vs in captiuitie were themselues leade captiue when Christ ascended from the lower partes of the earth and then were powers and principalities SPOILED and openlie SHEVVED Christ TRIVMPHING OVER THEM not on the Crosse at the time of his passion but IN HIS OVVNE PERSON at the time of his resurrection and ascension An effect of this triumph is this that an Angell was sent in the Reuelation of Saint Iohn from heauen hauing the key of the bottomlesse pit and a great chaine in his hand And hee tooke the Dragon that olde Serpent which is the diuel Satan and bound him a thousand yeares And cast him into the bottomles pit and shut him vp and sealed vpō him that he should deceiue the people no more If a messenger from Christ had this power ouer Satan to binde him and shut him vp what commaund then had Christ himselfe ouer hell and Satan And how wholesome and gladsome a thing is it for vs to beléeue and confesse that Christ Iesus our Lord and sauiour hath Satan and all the pawers of hell chained at his will and by his conquest ouer them so ruleth and restraineth them that they can not stirre but by his leaue and appointment and thus shall he hold them captiue till hee deliuer the kingdome to God his father and throughly tread both death and Satan vnder our feete This doctrine I trust maintaineth no superstition but sound and true religion as well touching the partes as the time of Christs conquest and triumph ouer death and hell It resteth now to search what part of Christ had this triumph ouer hell for so much as Christ consisted of two natures diuine and humane his manhood by death was then diuided into two places the bodie being separate from the soule and lying in the dust of the earth but without corruption And first we must not referre this triumph to his diuine nature by reason it was no maisterie for god to conquer his vassall The seede of the woman must bruize the serpents heade and not the maker of heauen and earth with his almightie power maiestie Besides the godhead of Christ coulde neither truly DESCEND nor ASCEND as being euery where present nor be EXALTED as being equall with the highest nor RECEIVE GIFT as hauing all fulnes in it but that nature which led captiuity captiue did first DESCEND into y e lower parts of the earth after ASCENDED was EXALTED and RECEAVED this power and honour as a GIFT from God in respect of his obedience patience and humilitie The places are before alleaged there is no néede to repeat them It was then Christes humane nature which God so highlie EXALTED for his former obedience vnto death and to which all power was giuen in heauen and earth his diuine was euer in euen degree with his father full of maiestie power and glorie It is not to be neglected that Ireneus saith Si homo non vicisset inimicum hominis non iusté victus esset inimicus If a man had not ouercome the enemy of man the enemie had not lawfully beene ouercome Which proportion of iustice the Apostle vrgeth when he saith as by a man came death so by a man came the resurrection of the dead Since then the humane nature of Christ by condition might and by desert must bee exalted aboue all creatures and by the rule of iustice had the conquest of satan and his kingdome it is no harde matter to discerne which part of Christs manhood must ouerthrow death and which must triumph ouer hell The bodie of man whiles the first death lasteth is not due to hell it must lie dead and senselesse in the earth and so can neither liue nor feele the paines of hell Christes bodie then lying in the graue without SENSE MOTION OR LIFE could haue no conquest ouer hell ouer death it had being preserued in the graue without all corruption and raised from the deade to a blessed and immortall state without all imperfection Ouer hel it had none because that part of Christ which did conquere hel must haue as well MOTION TO DESCEND thither and POVVER TO REPRESSE there the rage of satā as also LIFE AND SENSE TO SPOILE powers and principalities and by leading them captiue to make an open shewe of them from al which the first death kept the bodie of Christ till the time that his soule ascending with triumph from hell tooke his body from death and so made a perfect conquest ouer hell and death not onlie for his owne person to whome all power was giuen in heauen and earth but for his members also for whose safety he tooke from Satan the keyes of hell and of death that he himselfe might be Lord of the dead the liuing So that now the power of hell is destroied and Satan restrained and the faithfull freed from all feare assured that the gates of hel shal not preuaile against them And this is that victorie which God threatened to death and hell by his prophet saying I will redeeme them from THE POVVER OF HEL I will deliuer them from death O death I will be thy death O HEL I VVIL BE THY DESTRVCTION repentance is hid from mine eyes So agréeable is this doctrine to the christian faith so comfortable to all the godly that few would refuse it except such as are waspishlie wedded to their owne fansies if it might appeare where this is written in the scriptures The which desire of religious mindes whiles I labor to satisfie I must forwarne them how easie it is for cōtentious spirits to frustrate the strength of all that God saith if they may be suffered with diuerse significations figuratiue interpretations to elude when they list the words of the holie ghost decline the literall
If he were not drawne against his will hee consented to come both which are absurd to beleeue of so iust a person And this is the sleight of Satan that to deceiue the more hee maketh as if the iust were in his hands The storie doth describe the mind of Saul and the shew of Samuel expressing what was seene and said but pretermitting how true or false either was For what saith it Saul hearing in what habite the spirite was raised vnderstoode it to be Samuel It reporteth what Saul conceiued and because hee conceiued amisse hee adored another then God against the scripture and thinking it to bee Samuel worshipped the Diuell that Satan might reape the fruite of his fallacie For if Samuel had indeede appeared vnto him the iust person woulde neuer haue suffered himselfe to bee worshipped which preached God alone to be worshipped And how did the man of god that was with Abraham in rest say to that pestilent man worthie of hell fire to morrowe thou shalt bee with me By these two wayes Satan afore he was ware betraied his fraudulent subtiltie because he suffered himselfe to be worshipped vnder the habite and name of Samuel against Gods lawe and lied that Saul loden with sinne should after death be with righteous Samuel whereas there is a great distance betwixt the iust and vniust after this life and Saul went hence to him whom he worshipped If the fathers so much varie and dissent from themselues and from others whie do I presse their testimonie touching Christs descent to hell I presse them no further then they accord with the words of the scripture and with the grounds of faith wherein they all concurre with one consent When they swarue aside or part asunder I dissemble it not wishing the reader as not to regarde their priuate opinions without good proofe so not to reiect their general confession in matters of faith agreeing with the scriptures without better demonstration then I yet sée made for the contrarie That the diuell was destroied and man deliuered by Christes death from the feare of death is no supposall of mine or theirs but the manifest conclusion of the holy ghost That Christ in his owne person spoiled powers and principalities and openly triumphed ouer them that death and hell might bee swallowed vp in victorie is not mans imagination but the Apostles resolution That Christs soule was in hell and there not forsaken if Dauids prediction and Peters application were not plaine inough S. Lukes interpretation is so pregnant that without wrong to the word it can not bee pared Lay these togither and sée what they lacke of Christs soule descending into hell His being there must néeds inferre his descending thither And yet least some scrupulous person should stick at the phrase of Christs DESCENDING INTO HEL I think S. Paul hath words equiualent to them Ascending on high he led captiuitie captiue That he ascended what is it but that he FIRST DESCENDED into the lower partes of the earth He that descended is euen the same that ascended aboue al the heauens that he might fil al. If hell be any where there can be no doubt but it must be in the lower parts of the earth From the earth vpward is heauen where hell can not be Christ then DESCENDED into the lower partes of the earth and thence ledde captiuitie captiue that hee might fill all places with his presence Christs sepulchre was in the higher parts of the earth hewen out in a rock and thence he might lead the death of the bodie captiue but not the diuell that was ruler ouer death and had a chalenge to the soules of men that came not neare their graues Since then ascending from the lower parts of the earth he lead captiue all y e powers that held man in bondage and those chiefelie were the powers of hell which had interest into the soule of man by reason of sinne it must needes bee that Christ descended to those partes of the earth where mans captiuitie was strongest which is in hell and thence fréed him by his presence and led those captiues that ruled ouer him as conquerour of all the power of the deuill and darkenesse whose prisoner man was before hee was redeemed Againe hee first descended to the lowest and then ascended to the highest that he might fill all places with his presence If hee descended not to hell howe filled hee that place where hee neuer was except with the brightnesse of his diuine glorie which is euerie where present without descending or ascending But the Apostle saith he descended to the lowest and ascended to the highest that he might fill all places with the presence of his manhoode all knees in heauen earth and hell bowing vnto the exaltation of his humane nature And if the lower partes of the earth whither Christ descended to leade captiuitie captiue bee not lowe enough to shewe the scituation of hell Saint Paul hath plainer wordes of Christes descending as lowe as might bee when he writeth to the Romanes in this wise Say not in thine heart who shall ascende into heauen that is to bring Christ downe from aboue or who shal DESCEND INTO THE DEEPE that is to bring Christ backe from the deade Christ dying DESCENDED INTO THE DEEPE as rising from the deade hee ascended into heauen Nowe the deepe is so lowe that no place canne be lower yea hell it selfe and the prison of Diuels is knowne by that name in the newe Testament When the spirits that possessed the mad man amongst the Gadarens were to bee cast out by Christ they besought him that hee would not commaund them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to departe into the deepe In the Reuelation of Saint Iohn hell is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pit of the deepe and the Diuell is there named the Angell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the deepe yea the verie place where the Diuell is shut vp is expressed by that word I sawe an Angell saith Saint Iohn come downe from heauen hauing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the key of the deepe and a great chaine in his hand And he took the dragon that olde serpent which is called the diuell and bounde him and cast him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the deep shut him vp If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be a bottomles deep then which can nothing be déeper if in the scriptures it properly signifie the verie dungeon of hel where the diuels are kept the Apostle then auouching that Christ when hee died DESCENDED 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 INTO THE BOTTOMLES DEEP doth cléerely confirme that he descended into hell As therefore if we aske who can descend into the deep or ascend into heauen we reuerse Christs being among the dead and his sitting at the right hand of God in the heauens so if wee confesse thē both to be verified in Christ but in Christ they neuer were nor euer
descending into hell as you expound it was his conuersing among the soules of the dead Those soules then were in a place and that place by your construction the Creed calleth Hell Their state you will say is called hell but not their place A wittie difference I assure you The place for soules after this life is answerable to their state If their state bee hell their place can neither bee Heauen nor Paradise As is their receptacle so is their rest the place doth bring either ioy or paine which is their state So that if Christ descending into hell conuersed with the soules of the righteous of force the soules of the righteous were in hell which is the selfe same errour that you woulde seeme by your newe founde interpretation to preuent But the state of the â—eade is in Hebrew noted by the worde Sheôl and thither Christ descended And the state or place whither Christ descended is in the Creede named hell and so Sheôl is that which the Creede calleth hell In deede some say that Sheôl doth neuer in the olde testament signifie the place of the damned but I must be borne with if I bee not of their minde Manie men saie that they neuer proue and some speake they know not what As both partes of man sinned in the first transgression so was there a pit of perdition prouided for either part the graue for the bodie which there should rot and hell for the soule which there should bee tormented with euerlasting fire Both these pits because they alwayes expect and exact as their due the bodies and soules of mortall and sinfull men and neuer are satisfied are contained in the word Sheôl and are not distinguished by the nature of the worde which is common to both but by the circumstances added which are proper to either For example when the word Sheôl is qualified with an OPPOSITION to heauen with a differeÌ„ce of SCITVATION as the LOVVER PIT with an ADDITION of the soule there suffering or of the pain there suffered all these are proofs that the word Sheôl which is otherwise indifferent must there be taken not for the buriall of the body nor for the change from this life but â—or the state of destruction and place of damnation Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I slie from thy presence If I ascend into heauen thou art there If I lodge BENEATH IN HEL thou art there Opposite to heauen is not the graue where the bodies of all gods saints do lie but hell as being the farthest from it and most repugnaÌ„t to it since from hel to heauen there is no passage for man but from the graue to heauen is the assured hope of all the faithfull This opposition our Sauiour expressing in the new testament saith And thou Capernaum which art exalted to heauen shalt bee thrust downe to hell Christ doth not threaten the contemners of his doctrine and myracles with the graue which is common to all the godlie but with perpetuall destruction and punishment proportionable to the height of their pride which must needes be hell And so much followeth in plaine wordes in the next verse I say to you it shall be easier for them of the land of Sodome in the day of iudgement then for thee In the daie of iudgement as death so the graue are at an ende for the bodies of the wicked shall then liue for euer and then shall Capernaum be cast downe to hell for the contempt of Christs preaching As hel is the farthest place from heauen that can be named so it is the lowest and therefore by the lower pit is ment not the graue but hell which in scituation is far lower then y e outside of the earth where men are buried Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the perfection of the almightie to the height of heauen what canst thou do it is deeper then hell how canst thou know it Gods perfection is higher then the highest place which is heauen deeper then the deepest place which is hel To compare his power or iustice with the depth of the graue which is not foure yeards déepe at the most were a very slender comparison for the incomprehensible greatnes of god but since in height depth it excéedeth all things there can be no doubt but it is compared with the highest déepest places that are which are heauen and hel In like sort Thou hast deliuered my soule from the lowest pit can not be ment of the graue For mens souls are not inclosed in graues with their bodies but as the pit prouided for the body is the higher of the twaine and the pit prepared for the soule is the lower so the lowest pit out of question is hell where the soules of such as are reiected from God are detained against the day of vengeance And albeit some of these spéeches may perchance admit an allegoricall sense and so signifie the greatest and extreamest dangers that might be yet the ground of the allegorie dependeth on the nature of hell and not of the graue because of the two sortes of pittes hell is the lowest and made to receaue the soules of men which the graue doth not A fire saith God by Moses is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the bottome of hell and set on fire the foundations of the mountaines Fire in the graue there is none in hell there is neither can the sepulcher where mens bodies lie buried be the bottome of hell For so shall we make the place of hell higher then the earth which the scripture euerie where crosseth when it calleth hell the deepe or lowest pit A fire then burning to the bottome of hell and inflaming the verie foundations of the hils can haue no resemblance to the graue nor performance in the graue but Sheol in that scripture as in manie others must signifie the verie place of the damned which we call hell The wordes then of the Créede hee descended into hell since the defenders of this thirde opinion doe not referre to the bodie of Christ buried but to the soule of Christ after death it is euident by their position that not onelie Christs soule after this life descended to hell but all the soules of the iust and righteous leauing this worlde before Christes comming descended likewise into hell And this euasion of theirs that Sheol in Hebrew signifieth the state of the deade after this life be it good or bad standeth them in little stéed For first they doe not auoid that obscure and idle repetition wherewith the second opinion was charged that after a plaine and easie article hee was deade the selfe same thing should bee iterated againe with a verie darke and doubtfull kind of hebraisme he descended into Sheôl By this former he was dead euerie man must néedes conceaue not onelie the separation of the soule from the bodie but also the subiection of either
aire that is not seene nor hath any colour And in his discourse whether a secrete and silent life be best or no Plutarch proposeth this etymologie as truer elder theÌ„ Soâ—rates fancie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men ACCORDING TO THE AVNCIENT TRADITIONS OF THEIR FATHERS thinking the sunne to be Apollo named him Delius and Pythius And the RVLER of the contrarie destinie to life and light whether he bee a God or a DIVEL they termed HADES being the MASTER of dark night and dead sleepe for that when wee depart hence wee go into an vnknowne and vnseene place So that Socrates deriuation of Hades was both false and newe euen as his opinion of HADES to be an eloquent and bountifull God and his reason is woorst of all that because men returne not backe againe after death therefore HADES doeth detaine them with eloquent perswasions and great rewards which maketh him to be called Pluto For the scripture assureth vs that men dead can not returne againe though they were neuer so willing and though God of his goodnes bestoweth euerlasting blisse on his Saints yet the rest would faine bee rid of their eternall miserie and can not neither are they held in their state with faire promises or large benefites but by the vnalterable rigor of Gods iustice Eustathius vpon Homers wordes that Achilles sent many a worthie soule to HADES saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a darke place vnder the earth not to be seene appointed for soules and is deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the priuatiue and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see and is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by contraction HADES So when Homer bringeth in Hectors wife complaining of her miserie and saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou husband art gone to HADES house vnder the dennes of the earth Eustathius addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a place vnder the earth and so hidde from vs. Therefore it is called Hades that is an inuisible aire which wee can not see And howsoeuer Socrates pleased himselfe in framing this heauen as you call it for himselfe and a fewe others for hee admitteth none but Philosophers into it Lucian in his Dialogues of the dead bitterlie mocketh him as being in Hell with all the rest howsoeuer he dreamed of an heauen for himselfe after his departure hence How Paganish and not onelie ridiculous but blasphemous Platoes heauen is appeareth by this that Socrates maketh SVVANNES his fellow seruants to Phoebus imagineth they sing that day they die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FORESEEING THE GOOD THINGS THEY SHALL HAVE IN HADES And further saith that wheÌ„ they perceiue they must die then chiefly and most of al they sing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reioycing that they SHALL GO TO GOD whose seruants they are And those wordes which Socrates spake of Swannes foreséeing THE GOOD THINGS IN HADES you Sir Confuter in the abundance of your wit note to proue HADES to be heauen And to this heauen though Socrates admitte Swannes yet he accepteth no men but such as haue béene Philosophers those of the purest sort As for such as vse popular and ciuil vertues as iustice and temperance gotten by care and continuance without Philosophie his words are expressely these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is fit that such soules should returne againe into some such politicall and tame kinde either of BEES VVASPES or EMMETS after that into men again But into the kinred of the Gods it is not lawful for anie to come that hath not beene a Philosopher and verie pure at his departing hence Others that were slouthfull and filled their bellies hee saith must be turned into Asses and such other beasts and oppressours and wrong doers into Wolues Kites and Hawkes Of these his plaine resolution is that such soules wander vntill by the earnest loue of their bodilie nature which followeth them they PVT ON BODIES againe And such bodies of birds and beasts they put on as resemble the manners of their former life Here is a goodly world of soules to be brought out of Plato into the Créede and Socrates heauen why you should fansie I cannot gesse except it be that none but very pure and precise persons shall come thither to whom you would faine be the ringleader But this is not all In making HADES AND PLVTO by which the Poets meane the diuell to bée a wise and bountifull God hath not your wise Master fitted his new heauen with an excellent head Plutarch moueth the doubt whether HADES be a God or a DIVELL that hath power ouer darknes and death Homer Hesiode affirme he dwelleth vnder the earth and is implacable cruell and hated of men Porphyrie no meane follower of Plato concludeth PLVTO which is all one with HADES as Plato confesseth to be the chiefe of all wicked spirits Porphyries words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We doe not without cause coniecture that all wicked spirites are vnder Serapis being led so to thinke not onely by his ceremonies but because offerings to pacifie and sacrifices auerting rage are done to PLVTO as we haue shewed in our first booke Now Serapis is all one god with Pluto and therefore he is the greatest prince of Diuels and one that giueth charmes to driue away spirits Loe here is Socrates wise and bountifull god HADES AND PLVTO concluded by a great Platonicke to be the chiefe diuell whose iudgement Eusebius followeth And in déede considering his place where he dwelleth his rage that he vseth against men for which hee is so feared and hated of them and his sacrifices in which hee delighteth as also his power ouer death and darkenesse it is a cléere case that Platoes HADES OR PLVTO is the great diuell in hell whose craftes and sleighâ—s because hée knew not as a Pagan he hath promoted him to bee a wise and liberall god and you haue learnedly cited this wise deuise to make him ruler of your heauen whither you send Christ and his Saints to liue there for euer Now were it graunted vnto you that Pluto and HADES which by the description of all your classicall Poets is in déede the diuell were one of Platoes gods are you so little acquainted either with Plato or with Paganisme that you presently conclude hee is the true God of Heauen Or that this inuisible place must néedes bee the kingdome of God Looke but in the latter end of this booke which you alleage for this very purpose and there you shall sée what pretie fansies Socrates hath of another inuisible earth farre aboue this and waters likewise and trees and flowers and fruites and beastes and men that liue longer than we doe here below and without sicknes where also there are temples woods in which the gods dwell familiarly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That to see that earth is the sight of the blessed But what
be these wicked fancies either to the Créede or to Christian Religion Séeing therefore your Gréeke Poets with one consent make HADES to be a god below vnder the earth and put vnder his power as well the Elisian fields and seates for the iust soules as the prisons and dungeons for the vniust and this fantasticall conceite of Socrates touching a speciall place for himselfe and such Philosophers as hee was together with Swannes beasts trees flowers fruites as it was singular and secret to himselfe so it was most absurd and wicked you may by no meanes bring your Classicall writers that were Pagans to expounde the Créede much lesse must you binde the holy Ghost in the new Testament to vse the word HADES as the infidels did since the holy Ghost onely knoweth and speaketh trueth and their imaginations of the dead or as you speake of the world of soules was not onely false and foolish but impious and blasphemous And yet if you doe admit them to bée interpreters of the Créede which I vtterlie refuse for the causes I haue tolde you they make directly against you For HADES with them was the Ruler or place of soules that were beneath vnder the earth were they in rest or in paine and that Christian Religion will assure you must néedes be hell howsoeuer to beare out your broken matter you beginne halfe to doubt where hell is The authenticke authors of the Greeke tongue vsed hades for the place of the blessed soules you say and not properlie for hell So Leonidas cheered vp his men not to feare such a blessed death to suppe in hell had beene a colde comfort vnto them You reade nothing your selfe belike that you hit nothing right In Plutarch whome you alleage this is no comfort giuen by Leonidas but hée séeing the Persians now in sight as his men were dining and in number so infinite aboue his who were but an handfull willeth them to make short and saith So dine as men that must suppe in HADES that is care not for meate since death is so neere but prepare to fight for your Countrey It sheweth a resolution to dye but no consolation after death more than they knew before which was that in HADES were places as well for the good to rest as for the bad to bée punished but both were below vnder earth and in Plutoes kingdome as the Gentiles supposed Neither did Homer meane to make a new heauen for such as Achilles slue but to send them to the place where hée thought all soules did abide and therefore hée put Achilles soule in Plutoes region vnder the earth as well as the rest of the Grecians and Troians that died in that Battaile And because your Proctor will néedes haue the words that Achilles spirite spake to Vlisses at his descent to hell to bee a dictionarie for hades what place it is against which if the Creede had gone it had been a skoffe to all Hellas and had hindered all the proceeding of the Gospell Let vs sée whether his owne dictionarie will not returne all his allegations vppon his owne head If HADES in the Créede must bee the same place where Achilles spirite was whither Vlisses descended and where he saw and spake with so many Ghostes then apparantly HADES must bée the Poets HELL At Vlisses entrance Homer telling how the soules came about him saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soules flocked together out of Erebus now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very place where the Poets place Cerberus and whence the same Poet saith Hercules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was sent to fetch from Erebus the dogge of HATEFVLL HADES Againe Vlisses mother asking him how hee came to that place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My sonne how camest thou vnder this darke mist Of Aiax Ghost who would not for anger speake to Vlisses Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee went away to other soules in Erebus There Vlisses saith hée saw Sisyphus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffering grieuous torments as also Titius and Tantalus to endure the like There he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hercules strength a Ghost for hee himselfe was in ioye with the immortall Gods There Achilles spirite tooke so small comfort that when Vlisses said There is none happier then thou Achilles before whiles thou liuedst wee honoured thee as a God and now art thou a great commaunder among the Dead bee not therefore so fadde hée replied Praise not death to mee Vlisses I had rather serue any poore man on earth as his drudge though hee were scant able to liue then to raigne here ouer all the dead If the place bee darke and déepe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Cerberus bée there which the Poets make the very kéeper of hell if there bée grieuous and cruell punishmentes for such as deserue them if the best haue there so little ioye of the place as Homer maketh Achilles ghost here to confesse what place can this bée but that hell which all the Poets acknowledge though in some part thereof there hée worse punishmentes then in other This is not that Tartarus you will saye which the Poets make the â—ayle and Prison for the wicked What is that to the purpose if some punishmentes in hell bée worse than other Looke to those whome the Poets place without the dungeon and sée whether they bée in heauen or no And because you and your friends talke so much of the worlde of Soules and of heauen to bée found in HADES and INFERI and your selfe bring Virgill as one of your Classicall authors to proue this matter Who though hee were a Poet and fayned many things yet hee spake you say familiarlie and after the vulgar vse and for the substance of the matter vttered touching heauen and hell the opinion of the worlde then I must pray the Readers leaue and patience whiles I follow you in your owne fantasticall deuise though against mine owne liking to let the simple sée what your world of soules and your heauen is euen in those very writers which you produce for this purpose and whether they bée fitte things to bée Presidents for the Créede or no. In Plutoes kingdome vnder earth whether Aeneas went to sée his Father Anchises Virgil your authenticke author maketh besides Tartarus and your goodly Elisian fields the eternall habitation as you call it of the blessed many lodgings As first for sicknes care weeping pouertie labour warres discord dreames and death besides for Centaures Briareus Hidra Chimera Gorgon Harpies and Gerion and sundrie other monsters There wander the Ghosts whose bodies are not buried a hundred yeare before they can get ouer the foule and silthie riuer of Styx The other side of Styx is kept by Cerberus the Dogge with thrée heads where first are placed the soules of infants weeping and crying then such as were vniustly condemned to death
like manner shalt thou finde all the passions of our flesh to haue beene stirred in Christ but without sinne that beeing stirred they might be repressed by the power of the godheade dwelling in him and our nature by that meanes reduced to a better temper Ambrose in other wordes saieth as much Sequestrata deloctatione diuinitatis aeternae taedio meae infirmitatis afficitur Suscepit enim tristitiam meam vt mihi suam laetitiam largiretur vestigijs nostris descendit vsque admortis aerumnam vt nos suis vestigijs reuocaret advitam Debuit ergo dolorem suscipere vt vinceret tristitiam non excluderet nos disceremus in Christo quemadmodum futurae mortis maestitiam vinceremus And so he concludeth Hic alto operatur effectu vt quia in carne sua peccata nostra perimebat maerorem quoque animae nostrae suae animae maerore aboleret Laying aside the delight of his aeternall deitie Christ is affected with the tediousnesse of my infirmity and deiected himselfe to feele the griefe of death as we doe that by following his steps he might reduce vs to life hee was therefore to admit sorrowe that he might conquer sorrowe and not keepe it off and wee to learne in Christ howe we should ouercome the feare of death approching In his agonie hee wrought with a deepe effect that because in his flesh hee killed our sinnes he might also with the sorrow of his soule extinguish the sorrowe of our soules So the sorrowe and feare of death which it pleased our sauiour to féele in our nature came not for want of strength but of purpose to quench and abolish those affections and passions in vs that the faithfull for euer might bee fréed from them through his grace working in their hearts And therefore we haue no cause to excuse much lesse to reproch Christes weakenesse but rather to admire his power and praise his mercie that woulde submit himselfe to these infirmities of our nature thereby to cure them in vs and to strengthen vs against them and to make vs partakers of his wonderfull courage and patience the steps wherof we may dailie find not in martyrs onelie but in all his members when they are tried with anie kinde of outwarde or inward affliction Howbeit I may not omit how great an ouersight it is to conclude that Christ if he feared death in his agony was far fâ—ebler then martyrs which ioifullie die yea then malefactors which oftentimes go to their death verie resolutely The desratenesse of the wicked which haue neither feare nor care of God till they féele the force of his wrath in hell fire is no fit comparison for the sonne of God no more then the sinke of sinne is to swéeten the fountaine of grace I will therefore skippe that ouer with silence But if death bee not fearefull to the seruants of Christ as indéede it is not they are the more bound to their Lord and master who in his owne person to make the waie easie for them with the losse of his life disarmed death for euer and brake the chaines in sunder wherewith death and hell were coupled together For Christ was the first that by seuering death from the terror and power of hell made the stroke of death contemptible to all the godlie which otherwise was and would haue béene the harbinger of hell So that when death presented it selfe to the sight of our sauiour purposing to redeeme the world it came so fast clasped with hell that none but the sonne of God could dissolue the band wherewith they were linked And therfore Christ had far greater cause then anie of his members to feare and with earnest praier to decline the â—aile of death which did wound both bodie and soule with euerlasting destruction if he did not take awaie the sting thereof and by his sundring the one from the other which was the hope of all his saints before he died and faith of al the godlie since death was and is to all beléeuers no cause of feare but rest from their labors and passage to a better life The feare then which Christ had and shewed of death was either the curing of our infirmities in his flesh or the breaking the knot betwixt death and hell which none but he was able to doe or the mitigating of Gods anger which might be executed on his bodie or lastlie the desire hee had to continue the féeling and enioying of Gods presence and coherence with bodie and soule in the vnitie of his person and if in anie of these wee charge Christ with nicenesse wee knowe not what we saie except we will bee guiltie in a worse issue which I perswade my selfe was no part of their meaning that first broched this matter The last cause of Christs agony might be the sanctifying of himselfe to praie for trangressors and the voluntarie dedicating of his bloud to bee shed for the redemption of mankind for where some coniecture Christ did sweate bloud for feare Hilarie plainâ—lie denieth it and saieth Sudoremnemo audebit infirmitati deputare quia contra naturam est sudare sanguinem nec infirmitas est quod pot estas non secundum naturae consuetudinem gessit No man shoulde dare attribute Christs bloudy sweate to infirmitie because it is against nature to sweat bloud and can bee no weakenes which power did aboue the course of nature Austen maketh it a signification of the martyrs bloud that should willinglie bee shedde throughout the church for the testimonie of the trueth Ideo toto corpore sanguineÌ„ sudaâ—it quia in corpore suo id est Ecclesia Martyrum sanguinem ostendit Christ sweat bloud along all his bodie to this ende that he might shew the bloud of martyrs in his bodie which is the church Prosper agréeth with S. Augustine in iudgement and saith Oranscum sudore sanguineo dominus Iesus significabat de toto corpore quod est Ecclesia emanaturas martyrum passiones The Lorde Iesus praying with a bloudy sweat signified the sufferings of the martyrs that should be in his whole body which is the church Bede thereby noteth that Christes praier made for his Apostles was hearde and that by his bloud he should not onelie redresse the frailtie of his disciples but quicken the whole earth being dead in their sinnes Nemo sudorem hunc infirmitati deputet sed intelligat per irrigatam sacratamque eius sanguine terram non sibi qui nouerat sed nobis apertè declaratum quod effectum suae precis iam obtineret vt fidem discipulorum quam terrena adhuc fragilitas arguebat suo sanguine purgaret quicquidilla scandali de eius morte pertulisset hoc toruÌ„ ipse moriendo deleret immo vniuer sum latè terrarum orbem pâ—ccatis mortuum sua innoxia morte caelestem resuscitaret ad vitam Let no man attribute Christs bloudie sweat to infirmitie but rather learne that by sprinkling and hallowing the
was God and man As the Sonne of God coulde not bee REIECTED no more could hee bee ACCVRSED He that is ioyned with God must needes bee partaker of Gods goodnesse God is the fountaine of all bliâ—â—e hee therefore filleth with his blessing all that are vnited vnto him And if we when we cleaue vnto him by faith and loue must needs deriue from him ioy and blisse coulde the soule of Christ bee personallie ioyned with him and not be perpetuallie blessed by him Though then it pleased our Sauiour to suffer a cursed kinde of death for our sinnes and by receyuing that curse in his flesh to quench the spirituall and eternall curse that hung ouer our heades yet his souls was neuer accursed since he was alwaies beloued and the curse of God compriseth not onelie the anger and hatred but the intolerable and vnceaseable vengeance of God which pursueth the souls and bodies of the wicked with flaming fire for euer For how could al nations of the earth be blessed in him if he himselfe were accursed but God sent him to blesse vs hee must therefore be stored with fulnes of blessing first for himselfe then for vs all And could we frame our tongues which I hope all Christians with heart detest so much to dishonour the person of Christ as to auouch him to be trulie reiected and accursed of his Father for the time bee it neuer so short yet we must not shew our selues so void of al sense as to say that Christs soule suffered HEL FIRE which is the perpetuall and essentiall punishment of all the damned Let vs not come within that danger of so desperate follie not to knowe or not to care what we defend or affirme It should haue some proofe it should haue some truth whatsoeuer is held for matter of faith That Christes soule was tormented with hell fire I aske not what proofe or truth but what shewe can bee pretended The fire of hell they will say is metaphoricall they that go thither shall find it no metaphore It is no good dallying with Gods eternall and terrible iudgements The Scriptures are so plaine and so full of the parts and effects of fire in hell that I dare not allegorize them Christ maketh the rich mans soule in hell to saie I am tormented in this flame Saint Iohn saith it is a lake burning with fire and brimstone Daniel saith a firie streame issued from before Christ sitting in iudgement Paul saith it is a violent fire which shall deuoure the aduersaries God himselfe saith a fire is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the bottome of hell and shall enflame the foundations of the hilles If therefore the paines of the damned come in question it is not safe to measure them by our imaginations but to giue eare to the holie ghost who can best expresse them and by him wee learne that if anie man worshippe the beast and his image he shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God and shall bee tormented in fire and Brimstone before the holie Angels and before the lambe And the smoke of their torment shall ascende euermore and they shall haue no rest night nor daie Into this fire if we cast Christes soule we must take heede our proofes bee sound and sure least our presumption exclude vs from the place where Christ is and leaue vs in the lake where hee neuer was there to learne what it is rashlie to conclude the thinges that are not confirmed by the word of God But I perswade my self few men of learning or religion will venter on this desperate resolution that Christs soule here on earth suffered hell fire and therefore to propose it is inough to confute it The last thing in hell fire is that it is eternal For as there is no remission of paine so thence is no redemption but once adiudged thither is euerlastinglie fastened to that place of torment And this is cause inough to staie all men that bee soberlie minded from defending that Christs soule suffered the paines of hell which the holie Ghost saith are endles They which knowe not God and obey not the gospell shall suffer paines euen euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord saith the Apostle to the Thessalonians And so Peter to whom the myst of darkenesse is reserued for euer And Iude Sodome and Gomorrhe are set for an example which suffer the punishment of euerlasting fire Yea Christ himselfe pronounced that fire to be vnquenchable Wherefore vnlesse we can shew a later and better warrant then I yet see we shall do well not to enterprize to quench hell fire but to let it burne eternallie and to confesse with Peter that God raised Christ breaking the paines of death and hell of which it was impossible he should be held For since he was and is the Sauiour of his body the paines of hell which are eternall could not take hold on him He was mightier then hell that saued vs from hell hee could not frée vs from the chaines of darkenesse but he must first breake them in sunder His deliuering vs from the power of Satan proueth him to be stronger then Satan and the stronger could neuer be bound by the weaker but contrariwise he entred into Satans house where his chiefe strength was and bound him and so spoiled him This comparison Christ maketh betwixt Satan himselfe by which he concludeth that he was stronger then Satan and consequentlie could not himselfe bee bound by death or hell but ouercame satan and tooke all his armour from him wherein he trusted and deuided the spoiles And where some men begin to doubt whether eternal continuance be of the nature substance of hell or no they shall doe well to leaue these dangerous and fruitelesse speculations For whether they looke to the persons for vvhom or the crimes for vvhich or the Iudge by vvhom it was prepared they shall euerie waie find it must be eternall It was prepared for the diuell and his Angels and to them coulde no punishment be allotted but euerlasting except we will giue possibilitie of grace and hope of repentance vnto diuels It is the wages of sinne which being an infinite contempt of the diuine maiestie must by the balance of iustice haue infinite vengeance in waight or in length And since no creature is able to beare an infinite burden and sence of paine of force all sinnefull creatures must bee condemned to an infinite length of punishment which is hell fire Lastlie as God is eternall and cannot change no more can his iustice or iudgement alter with time but as his truth abideth for euer so his iudgment being iust and good is irreuocable consequently the vengeance of sinne can neuer cease as proceeding from the righteous iudge of the world in whom is no shadowing nor varying And therefore Paul calleth the iudgement aeternal wherby God shall rewarde
part to the state of the deade What néeded then an vnknowne hebrew phrase hee descended into Sheôl to expresse the verie same point which before was fullie and fairelie deliuered Againe though Sheôl be common to the bodies of the faithfull and infidels yet may it bee verie well doubted whether the soules of the righteous departed this life be in Sheôl or no. And vnder correction I take it to bee more then the Scripture anie where doeth positiuelie affirme My reason is that Abrahams bosome is by our Sauiour placed ABOVE PARRE OFF from the place where the wicked after this life are tormented Now to Sheôl the Scripture maketh a DESCENT not an ascent as when Iacob saieth I VVILL GOE DOVVNE TO Sheôl vnto my sonne mourning And againe you will bring my gray hayres with sorrow DOVVNE TO SHEOL And least wee shoulde dreame of a metaphoricall kinde of descent in the rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram the scripture saieth THE GROVNDE claue asunder that was VNDER THEM and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them vp with their families So they and all that were with them DESCENDED aliue into Sheôl and the earth COVERED THEM To Sheôl then the scripture maketh a locall descent which is either of the bodie to the graue for so Iacobs words must be vnderstood when he saith I will descende to Sheôl vnto my sonne or of the soule after death to the place of torment which is the rewarde of all the wicked The wicked saith Dauid shall be turned into Sheôl and al nations that forget God Where he doth not meane they shall die aswel as the godly which is likewise the lot of all the iust righteous but they shall haue the due wages of sinne both body and soule descending to Sheôl that is the one to corruption in the earth the other to damnation in hell For Sheol containeth both and importeth both to the forgetters and despisers of God albeit it fasten no farther on the godly then to bring their bodies to the graue which is the gate of hel Ezechiah mentioning in his praiers how he was willed by the prophet to prepare himselfe to die thus expresseth it I said in the cutting off of my daies I shal goe to the gates of Sheol I am depriued of the residue of my yeeres but y e wicked go to THE DEPTH OF SHEOL which is the place of euerlasting punishment The way of life saith Salomon is ON HIGH to him that vnderstandeth to decline froÌ„ SHEOL BENEATH So that after this life the soules that liue are aboue for the way to life is on high the soules that die go to the depth of Sheol euen to the bottomles pit of perdition Of him that hanteth harlots Salomon saith He knoweth not y t her ghests are in the depth of Sheol that is so wrapped in their sinnes that they cannot preuent euerlasting damnation And againe Thou shalt smite the child with the rod and shalt deliuer his soule froÌ„ Sheol Correction will not saue a â—hilde that hee shall not see death but it will bow him to obedience and so saue his soule from destruction Yea how should Dauid so often confesse to God that his soule was freed from Sheol if by Sheol hee ment the state after death for thence it was impossible his soule shuld be deliuered What man liueth shal not see death so pretious is the redeÌ„ption of the soule froÌ„ death that it must cease for euer And yet comparing himself with the wicked his state with theirs he saith Like sheepe shall they lie in Sheol death shal deuoure theÌ„ and the righteous shall haue dominioÌ„ ouer theÌ„ in the day spring But God wil deliuer my soule from the power of Sheol for he will receiue me Doth Dauid meane he shal neuer die or that his soule shalbe deliuered from Sheol that is from the state of such as were departed this life y e imagination were both false absurd but he meaneth that death shal deuoure the wicked wholie as well soule as bodie whereas he did firmly beleeue y t God would deliuer his soule from the power of Sheol would receaue him after death though his body must of force by the condition of nature waxe olde as a garment and rot in the graue til the day of resurrection And if anie man thinke good in some such places as these are to interpret the SOVLE for LIFE because it is the spring and cause of life in the bodie and SHEOL for the GRAVE where life endeth I will not vtterlie condemne his exposition so long as he leaneth a different power of Sheol ouer y e iust vniust froÌ„ which Dauid saith God will deliuer his soule and do not make the soules of the righteous DESCEND TO SHEOL after death For that directlie impugneth the doctrine as well of the olde testament which saith the way of life is on high as of our Sauiour who placeth Abrahams bosome VPVVARD A FAR OFF from hell when he saith of the rich man that being in hell in torments hee LIFT VP his â—ies and saw Abraham A FAR OFF and Lazarus in his bosome Upon which place S. Augusten learnedlie and trulie inferreth Ne ipsos quidem INFEROS VSPIAM scripturarum locis IN BONO APPELLATOS potuireperire Quod si nusquam in diuinis authoritatibus legitur non vtique sinus ille Abrahae idest secretae cuiusdam quietis habitatio ALIQVA PARS INFERORVM esse credenda est quanquam in ijs ipsis tanti magistri verbis vbi ait dixisse Abraham Inter nos vos chaos magnum firmatum est SATIS VT OPINOR APPARET NON ESSE QVANDAM PARTEM ET QVASI MEMBRVM INFERORVM tantae illius felicitatis sinum Chaos enim magnum quid est nisi quidam hiatus multum ea separans inter quae non solum est verum etiam firmatus est The name of Inferi I could no where finde in anie place of scripture vsed IN ANY GOOD SENSE which if wee doe no where reade in the authorities of the scripture surelie Abrahams bosome which is an habitation of secret rest may not be thought to bee ANY PEECE OF THE LOVVER PARTS albeit in the words of so sufficient a maister as our Sauiour where he maketh Abraham say betwixt vs and you there is a GREATE GVLFE ESTABLISHED it is EVIDENT ENOVGH as I take it that the bosome of so great felicitie is NO PART NOR MEMBER of hell For what is a great gulfe but a great distance separating those places betweene which it lieth Inferi are the lower parts where the deade remaine which the Hebrew calleth Sheôl and touching Inferi which are the places or spirits beneath we maie with S. Austen conclude two thinges out of the manifest wordes of our Sauiour First that Abrahams bosome is VPVVARD towards heauen and therfore the soules of the righteous before the death of Christ ascended rather
Touching the place Thaddaeus one of the seuentie taught as wee heard out of Eusebius that Christ descended into hell and brake the wall that was neuer before broken From the deade manie rose before Christes death and therefore the partition betwixt death and life was often broken by others before Christes resurrection but from hell neuer returned anie but onelye Christ by reason that wall was neuer broken but by the Sonne of GOD. Athanasius in like sorte In suae ad nostri similitudinem forma nostram inibi depingens mortem vt in ea resurrectionem pro nobis concinnaret ex sepulchro quidē corpus animam vero ex ORCO reducem faceret vt in morte mortem dissolueret per exhibitionem animae per sepulchrum corporis in sepulchro corruptionem aboleret ex orco verò sepulchro immortalitatem incorruptionem ostendit in forma nobis consimili viam nostram emensus nostramque detentionem relaxans hoc ipsum eximij miraculi fuit In his likenesse to our nature Christe accomplishing our death that in the same hee might perform his resurrection for vs ' brought his BODIE OVT OF THE GRAVE his SOVLE OVT OF HEL that in death he might dissolue death by presenting his soule there and by the buriall of his bodie he might abolish corruption in the graue So that euen from hell and from the graue hee shewed immortalitie of the soule and incorruption of the body treading the verie way that we should haue trod in the likenesse of our nature and releasing of our detention And this was a marueilous wonder When Athanasius saith that Christ in his humane nature trodde the verie same way of death that wee should haue done his bodie and soule going to those very places whither ours should haue gone he doth not mean the place of rest where y e soules of the righteous were before Christs comming but the place whither the souls of men were condemned for the sin of their first father which is not Paradise nor Abrahams bosome but the place of the damned where the true death of the soule and wages of sin are by Gods iustice inflicted Heare his owne words Vbi corruptum fuerat humanum corpus eó suum corpus protecit Iesus vbitenebatur anima humana in morte ibi exhibuit humanam suam animam vt ipse inuictus à morte tanquam hominem se praesentem ostenderet solueret catenas mortis vt Deus vt vbi seminata fuerat corruptio inde exoriretur incorruptibilitas VBI REGNAVERAT MORS IN FORMA HVMANAE ANIMAE ibi ipse ille mortalis praesens immortalitatem exhiberet atque ita NOS PARTICIPES redderet suae incorruptibilitatis immortalitatis per spem resurrectionis ex mortuis Where the bodie of man vsed to rot thither Iesus cast his body and VVHERE THE SOVLE OF MAN VVAS HELD IN DEATH there did he exhibite his humane soule that hee being in no wise to bee conquered by death might both shewe himselfe there present as man and yet break the chaines of death as God that where corruption was sowed thence incorruption might rise euen from the graue where death raigned ouer mens soules which must néedes be in hell there he being present as a mortall man might demonstrate his immortalitie and so make vs partakers of his incorruption in flesh and immortalitie in soule by the hope of resurrection from the dead And because Hilarius and Fulgentius doe so fullie concurre with Athanasius that if we trulie conceiue the one we shall easilie vnderstand the other you shall see the same doctrine which the other two follow more fullie deliuered by Athanasius Quide Adae inobedientia quaestionem habuit indicioque peracto duplicem paenam in sententia sua complexus erat dum rei terrestri italoquitur Terraes in terram reuerteris at que ita pro decreto domini corpus in terram abscedit animae dixit morte morieris atque hinc est quod homo in duas partes discerpitur et vt ad duo loca discedat condemnatur Ac proinde upos fuit illo ipso iudice qui hoc decretū tulerat vt ipse per se sententiā solueret sub specie condēnati incondēnatū se sincerūque a peccatis ostēdens vt hominem deo reconciliaret hominemque totum in libertatem vindicaret I am si mihi alium locum condemnationis praeter hos duos ostendere potestis merito hominem dixeritis tripliciter diuidi Quod si tertium aliquem locum ostender◠non potestis PRAETER SEPVLCHRVM ET INFERNVM ex quibus plané ereptus est homo Christo assertore per suam speciem cum nostri similitudine congruentem cur igitur dicitis deum nondum propitiatum esse Hee that examined Adams disobedience and in the ende of his iudgement comprised in his sentence against Adam a double punishment speaking thus to the terrestriall part of man earth thou art aad to earth shalt thou returne and according to this decree the Lords body was laid in earth euen he said to the soule thou shalt die the death and thereupon man dying is distracted in two partes and condemned to two places Insomuch that it was requisite the verie same iudge which pronounced this decree should by himselfe dissolue this sentence in the shew of a man condemned but yet prouing him selfe to be vncondemned and cleere from sinne that he might reconcile man to God and reduce the whole man to libertie Nowe if you can name me any other place whereto man was condemned besides these two rightly may you thinke man after death is to be deuided into three places but if you can shewe me no third place besides the graue for the bodie and hell for the soule from both which man is fullie freed Christ deliuering him with like parts of himselfe answerable to our nature how say you then that God is not yet satisfied The whole man in Adam was in such sort condemned for sinne that his bodie returned to corruption in the earth and his soule departed to tormentes in hell which is the death of the soule after this life To the verie same places whither man was condemned in the same partes of our nature the sonne of GOD vouchsafed to descende that by the lying of his bodie in the earth our bodies might at the last daie bee raised out of the earth and by the presence of his soule in hell on which the force of hell coulde not fasten our soules might for euer be deliuered from comming thither This condemnation of the bodie to the graue and of the soule to hell for sinne is that law of humane necessity which Hilary speaketh of wherto the Lord Iesus submitted himself not that his flesh should sée corruption or his soule tast of dānatiō but y t by the presence of his body in the graue of his soule in hell he might shew himselfe inuincible to both
that is to an inuisible place which in latine is called hell and also the assertion of true religion y t the graue was the receptacle of the body only animaruÌ„ auteÌ„ superiora esse habitaculâ— scripturae testimonijs valde probatur But y e mansions of the soules are aboue as may easily be proued by y e testimonies of scripture These are the habitatioÌ„s of which Christ said there are many mansions with his father But I take no delight in rehersing their ouersights it will suffice that with one consent they make Abrahams bosome a receptacle for all the iust and the place of tormente where the rich man was a prison for the wicked calling the one hell and confessing the other to be the fruition of rest and happinesse after this life They that depart this world by death are according to their deeds deserts bestowed saith Origen alij in locuÌ„ qui dicitur Infernus alij in sinuÌ„ Abrahae some to y e place which is called hel others to AbrahaÌ„s bosom Omnes quipatrem habent AbrahaÌ„ virtutuÌ„ eius similes esse meruerunt requiescunt in sinu eius Al that haue AbrahaÌ„ for their father and obtained to be like him in virtues rest in his bosome saith Ierom Iusti in Abrahae sinurequiescere leguntur quod in eius gratia in eius requie in eius placiditate requiescunt qui conformeÌ„ ei fideÌ„ induerunt et â—andem in bonis operibus fecerunt voluntatem The iust saith Ambrose are said to rest in Abrahams bosome because they rest in like fauor in like ease in like contentation which put on like faith to AbrahaÌ„ and followed his exaÌ„ple in wel doing And therfore he speaketh else where to AbrahaÌ„ Expande sinus tuos vt plures suscipias quia plurimiin deuÌ„ crediderunt Open wide thy bosom to receaue mo because many haue beleeued in God Extendit Dauid spes suas ad infinitam perennitatis aetateÌ„ nec concluditur mortis occasu quuÌ„ sciat sibâ— in Abrahae sinibus exemplopauperis Lazariesse viuenduÌ„ Dauid stretcheth out his hope to infinite eternity endeth it not with y e fal of death knowing y t he should liue in AbrahaÌ„s bosome as did that poore Lazarus saith Hilary Neither Dauid onely but all the faithfull were and still are kept in Abrahams bosome as Hilarie thinketh vntill the day of iudgement Exeuntes de corpore ad introitum illuÌ„ regni caelestis per custodiaÌ„ domini fideles omnes reseruabuntur in sinu scilicet interim Abrahae collocati quô adire impios interiectum chaos inhibet quousque introeundi rursum in regnum caelorum tempus adueniat All the faithfull departing this life shall bee reserued in the Lords keeping for that entrance into the kingdom of heauen placed the meane while in Abrahams bosome whither the gulfe betweene will not suffer the wicked to come till the time approch that the godly shal enter into the kingdom of heauen This time of entring into the kingdom of heauen he maketh to be the day of iudgement Excipit impios statim vltor infernus decedentes de corpore si ita vixerunt confestim de via iusta peribunt Testes nobis sunt Euangelij diues et pauper quorum vnum angeli IN SEDIBVS BEATORVM in Abrahae sinu locauerunt alium statim regio paenae suscepit Nihil illic dilationis aut morae est Iudicij enim dies vel beatitudinis retributio est aeternae vel paenae Tempus vero mortis habet interim vnuÌ„quemque suis legibus duÌ„ ad iudiciuÌ„ vnuÌ„quemque aut Abraham reseruat aut paena Hel as a reuenger presently taketh the wicked and thâ—y leauing this body according to their liues do forthwith perish froÌ„ the right way The rich and poore man in the gospel do serue vs for witnesses wherof the one was caried by the Angels INTO THE SEATES OF THE BLESSED placed in Abrahams bosome the other the region of punishment did straightway sease on No delaie or stay may there be looked for The day of iudgment bringeth with it the reward of eternal blisse or paine but the verie time of death in the mean season subiecteth all men to these lawes that either Abraham or hell paines detaineth euerie soule vnto iudgement These Fathers confesse that all the iust as well before Christes resurrection as after were and are still in Abrahams bosom and there shall continue till the daie of iudgement Howe then could either Abrahams bosome be in hell or the Saintes of the olde testament be thence deliuered by Christes descent since they remaine still in Abrahams bosome as these fathers write and so shall do to the end of the world If Abrahams bosome were in hell beeing deliuered from hell they must needes bee deliuered likewise from Abrahams bosome If they be still in Abrahams bosome then were they neuer deliuered thence and that being in hell as some fathers would haue it the iust of both testamentes are still in hell and so none were deliuered thence by Christes descending thither But the calling vp of Samuel by the Witch at Endor prooueth y t Samuel so the rest of the prophets were in hell For she saw him ascending vp out of the earth he saide to Saul To morrow shalt thou and thy sonnes be with me Now that Saul being a reprobate and killing himselfe should bee in Abrahams bosome it was not possible Since then Samuel and Saul after death were both in one place and that place was beneath in the earth it is likelier that Samuel was in hell with Saul till he were deliuered thence then that Saul was in Abrahams bosome with Samuel The raising vp of Samuel after his death by the Witch hath mooued much question in the church of God whether it were Samuel in déede that rose and spâ—ke or whether it were the diuell transforming himselfe in to the likenesse of Samuel to driue Saul into dispaire And albeit the matter may be largelie disputed on either side yet neither opinion will infer that Samuels soule was in hell which is the point we haue in hand That it was not Samuel himselfe which appeared but the Witches familiar spirit in his likenesse these reasons preuaile with mee First neither by Witches nor Diuels coulde the soules of the saints bee commanded or disquieted from their places where they are in rest and peace Secondlie we are assured by the doctrine of our Sauiour that God will sende none from the dead to instruct the liuing yea all such conference is prohibited pronounced abominable by the law of God not that the dead can arise or aduise the liuing but because the diuell vnder that colour should not delude and abuse the people of God Thirdlie that which appeared receiued adoration at Saules hands which the Angel refused at S. Iohns and the soule of Samuel neither might nor would haue accepted Fourthlie Saul
witch could not raise the soule of Samuel is sound and true diuinitie the second that God made a shape of Samuel and thereby answered Saul is not prooued by any scripture though it be so supposed by Theodoret. S. Austen disputing the matter on both sides though he no way yéeld that the witch was able to raise vp soules yet hee saith Non est absurdum credere ex aliqua dispensatione diuinae voluntatis permissum fuisse vt noÌ„ inuitus nec dominante aut subiugante magica potentia sed volens obteÌ„perans occultae dispensationi dei quae pythonissam illam Saulem latebat coÌ„sentiret spiritus Prophetae sancti se ostendi aspectibus regis diuina cum sententia percussurus It is no absurditie to thinke that by some dispensation of the diuine pleasure it was permitted that the soule of the holie Prophet not against his will nor ouerruled or forced by anie magicall power but willing and obeying the secrete will of God which was hidde both from the witch and from Saul should shewe it selfe to the kings sight to the end it might the more astonish him with the iudgement of God And albeit he make this possible yet he inclineth rather to this opinion as the easier and likelier that the whole was but the deceite and woorke of Satan Quanquam in hoc facto potest esse alius FACILIOR intellectus EXPEDITIOR exitus vt non vere spiritum Samuelis excipatum à sua requie credamus sed aliquod phantasma et imaginarâ—am illusionem diaboli machinationibus factam quam propterea scriptura nomine Samuelis appellat quia solent imagines rerum earum nominibus appellari quarum imagines sunt Although in this fact there may bee another more easier vnderstanding and freer from all difficulties if wee beleeue that the soule of Samuel indeede was not raised from his rest but that it was a phantasme and illusion wrought by the craft of Satan which the scripture therefore calleth by the name of Samuel because resemblances are woont to bee called by the names of those things which they resemble The selfe same word for word hee repeateth in his answere to the questions which Dulcitius proposed vnto him and albeit in these places he sway indifferently betwixt both or incline faintly to the one yet in his bookes De doctrina Christiana he calleth it a Sacrilegious representation of Samuels image Non enim quia imago Samuelis mortui Sauliregi vera praenunciarit propterea talia sacrilegia quibus imago illa praesentata est minus execranda sunt Neither because the image of dead Samuel foretold truth to king Saul are such SACRILEGIES BY VVHICH THAT IMAGE VVAS SHEVVED the lesse to be DETESTED But if it were the soule of Samuel that appeared and no illusion of the diuell presenting himself in the habit of Samuel the storie no way conuinceth that Samuel was in hell The witch said I saw gods ascending out of the earth but her sight is no good proofe where the soules of the iust are or whence they come the diuell might easily delude her and make her beléeue hee came out of the earth that came from another place Againe if the bodie of Samuel were taken vp for his soule to appeare in that was raised out of the earth though the soule of Samuel came from Abrahams bosome so hee necessarily must rise out of the earth if his bodie rose withall as we all shall at the generall resurrection And where the image of Samuel saide to Saul To morrow thou and thy sonnes shall be with vs he did not meane their soules shoulde be in the same receptacles after death but as Austen saieth Mortuus mortem viuo praenunciabat He that was dead foreshewed the death of him that liued vt non ad aequalitatem felicitatis sed ad parem conditionem mortis referatur That it should be referred to the like condition of death not to the fruition of the same felicitie For if we so take the words Thou shalt be to morrow with mee veique falsum est it is certainly false saith Austen f Magno quippe interuallo post mortem separari bonos a malis in Euangelio legimus cum dominus inter superbum illum diuitem cum iam apud inferos tormenta pateretur illum qui ad eius ianuam vlcero sus iacebat iam in requie constitutum magnum chaos interiâ—ctum testetur That the good are after death separated froÌ„ the bad by a mightie distance we read in the Gospel where the Lord witnesseth that there is a great gulfe interiected betweene the proude rich man when hee was tormented in hell and the poore Lazare now in rest which lay full of sores at the rich mans gate And so whether we take it to be the soule of Samuel that spake to Saul or a Magicall illusion of Satan transforming himselfe into the shape of Samuel neither way proueth that Samuel was in hell howbeit I rather imbrace the reasons that are extant in the questions of the olde testament vnder the name of S. Austen cited in the Canon law which though they be not Austens are verie ancient Indignum facinus aestimo si secundum verba historiae commodetur assensus Quomodo enim fieri poterat vt arte magica attraheretur vir natiuitate sanctus vitae operibus iustus Aut si non attractus est consensit quod vtrumque de viro iusto credeâ—e absurâ—um est Porro hoc est praestigium Satanae quo vt plurimos fallat etiambonos in potestate se habere consingit Historicus mentem Saul habitum Samuelis descripsit ea quae dicta visa sunt exponens praetermittens si vera an falsa sint Quid enim ait Audiens in quo habâ—tu esset excitatus intellexit hunc esse Samuelem Quid intellexerit retulit quia non bene intellexit contra scripturaÌ„ alium adorauit quam deum putans Samuelem adorauit diabolum vt fructum fallaciae suae haberet Satanas Si enim vere Samuel illi appâ—ruisset non vtique vir iustus permisisset se adorari qui praedicauerat deuÌ„ solum adoranduÌ„ Et quomodo homo dei qui cuÌ„ Abraham in refrigerio erat dicebat ad virum pestilentiae dignum ardore gehennae eras mecum eris His duobus titulis subtilitatem fallaciae suae prodidit improuidus Satan quia adorari se permisit sub habitu nomine Samuelis contra legem virum peccatis pressum cum magna distantia peccatorum iustorum sit cum Samuele iustissimo futurum mentitus est Ad eum enim transmigrauit Saul quem adorauit I take it to be a wicked act if we acknowledge the storie according to the words For how could it be that a man holie in birth and iust in life should bee drawne from the place of his rest by the power of a witch
For that which fell that rose againe that which fell not needed not rise Hee rose then according to the flesh which being dead did rise againe Ergo also he died in our nature which he tooke vnto him and suffered in the body which he tooke that we might beleeue he tooke a true bodie To the vnbeleeuer asking Shall I beleeue God in flesh God borne of a woman God crucified whipped dead wounded buried Austen answereth thy God remaineth vnchangeable feare not he perisheth not Christ was borne of a woman but in his flâ—sh Hee was an infant but in his flesh Hee sucked increased was nourished and grewe in age but in his flesh Wearied he slept but in his flesh Hee hungred and thirsted but in his flesh He was taken bound whipped mocked yea he was CRVCIFIED AND KILLED BVT IN HIS FLESH Why art thou afraid The word which was God remaineth for euer He that despiseth this humblenes of God wil neuer be cured from the deadly swelling of pride The Lord Iesus therefore by his flesh gaue hope to our flesh To be borne and to die were here on earth common to liue for euer was not here Christ found here our earthlie wares which were vilde and brought with him his heauenlie which were strange If thou feare his death loue his resurrection He came to the place of our pilgrimage to take that which aboundeth here eueÌ„ mocks whippes blowes spittings in his face reproches hanging the crosse and death These things abound in our region to this entertainment hee came What hath he giuen thee here Instruction exhortation and remission of sinnes What hath he promised thee O mortall man that thou shalt liue for euer Doest thou not beleeue it Beleeue it I say beleeue it It is more that he hath alreadie done then that hee hath promised It is more incredible that the eternall died then that the mortall shall liue for euer If God died for man shall not man liue with God But can God die Hee tooke from thee wherein to die for thee THERE COVLD NOT DIE BVT FLESH THERE COVLD NOT DIE BVT A MORTALL BODIE Hee clothed himselfe with that wherein hee might die for thee hee will clothe thee wherin thou shalt liue with him In that part Christ died in which thou shalt die in that part Christ rose in which thou shalt rise Thou wilt pardon mee Christian Reader if among so much lothsome stuffe of reprobate horrors damned paines and hellish torments as this Confuter hath heaped together I solace my selfe sometimes with the longer comfort of sounde and sweete doctrine so sincerelie and sensiblie deliuered by the learned and auncient Fathers I will alledge one place more wherein thou shalt see the full consent of prouinciall and generall Councels not to bee gainesaide by anie man that will beare the name of a Christian and so shutte vp this point Cyrill writing to Nestorius to stay and suppresse that false doctrine which hee beganne then to spreade teacheth vs verie plainelie howe the sonne of God is saide in the Scriptures to SVFFER DIE AND RISE AGAINE for vs and our saluation So wee saie the sonne of God suffered and rose againe not that the sonne of GOD suffered in his owne nature either the stripes or the boaring of the nailes or the rest of the woundes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Deitie coulde not suffer by reason it is no bodilie substance but because THAT BODIE which hee made his owne suffered these things himselfe is saide to suffer these things for vs. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that coulde not suffer was then in his bodie which suffered After the same manner wee thinke of his dying The sonne of God is by nature immortall incorruptible life and the giuer of life but because the bodie which was his owne tasted death for all by the fauour of God as Paule speaketh hee himselfe is saide to haue suffered death for vs not that hee had experience of death as touching his owne nature it were a madnesse so to thinke or say but for that as I saide euen nowe his flesh tasted death So his flesh rising againe it is called his Resurrection not that hee fell to corruption God forbidde but that his bodie rose againe When this stayed not the frenzie of Nestorius the heretike but that hee replied in swelling woordes Cyrill called a Councell at Alexandria and there with one consent they approoued the trueth and sent it vnto Nestorius to bee confessed in these woordes amongst others If anie man doe not confesse that the Sonne of GOD suffered in his fleshe was crucified in his flesh and tasted death in his flesh let him bee accursed Dilating this and the rest of their Articles in their Synodall Epistle sent to Nestorius they saie Wee confesse that the onelie begotten God euen the sonne borne of God his father though hee were impassible in his owne nature yet suffered hee in his flesh for vs according to the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was in his bodie that was crucified accounting the sufferings of his owne flesh as proper vnto him though he were without suffering and by the grace of God tasted death for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he gaue his owne bodie vnto death This doctrine came to bee scanned in the third generall Councell helde at Ephesus and being there deliberatelie read was woâ—de for worde allowed of the whole Councell as agréeable to the Scriptures and the Nicene fathers The like approbation it had not onelie in the Councell of Constantinople vnder Fluuianus but in the great councell of Chalcedon where the proceedings of both these Councels were a fresh examined and the former woordes of Cyrill repeaâ—ed and confirmed with the ful consent of that general Councel as most â—ound and catholike So that he shall ill deserue the name of a christian that after so manie fathers and Councels both Prouinciall and Generall will begin to teach vs a new faith and tell vs that the Scriptures meane Christ was crucified and died as wel in his soule as in his bodie since the whole Church with one assent hath euer so conceiued and expounded the Scriptures that Christes crucifying and dying must bee referred to his bodie and consequentlie that the ioynt sufferings of Christ the soule feeling what the bodie suffered were most auailable for our redemption For when they ascribe the crucifying and death of Christ to his bodie they doe not exclude the soule from the sense and feeling of the paine which is a naturall consequent to the coniunction with her bodie but they shew what part of Christs manhoode suffered the crosse and death that the Scriptures so much speake of and whereby wee are redeemed and reconciled vnto GOD. One place repeated in the Councell of Ephesus maie serue in steede of manie to declare their meaning Howe can the Creator of all thnges who is neither visible palpable nor mutable sustaine the Crosse
these be your best exceptions against Christs triumphing ouer hell all the world will know that you are a worthie man to weare a woodden dagger The Apostle made it a part of Christs high exaltation that euerie knee as well of things vnder the earth as of things in heauen should bow vnto him and euerie toong confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord and do you thinke it a méete matter to be mocked and derided Paul saith Christ spoyled principalities and powers of hell darknes and made a shew of them openlie and triumphed ouer them in his owne person for so I must reade till you shew me better authoritie against it then I haue brought for it your selfe both sée and sate that whyles Christ suffered and whyles he died it was a miserable triumph yea a piteous triumph it was indeede where himselfe remayned in such woful tormeÌ„ts where appeared no shew of conquest but rather of being conquered stil he suffered til he gaue vp the ghost What letteth them I praie you since these words were not verified on the Crosse but they did take place in his resurrection as I teach and therein as by the effects it was most euident and apparant to the eies of all men he did spoyle powers and principalities made a shew of them openly and triumphed ouer them in his owne person Doth the holy ghost attribute this as a great honour to the humane nature of Christ that ascending on high he led captiuitie captiue and doe you make a merriment of it appealing to the whole world for their censure on your side Your strongest sort is this There can bee no commoditie nor benefit to the godlie by it For what good is there so much as pretended The generall redemption of all Gods elect and chosen people was wrought and fullie finished on the Crosse what could his going downe to hell adde more Is the subduing of hell powers and the treading on all their force and the restraining of all their furie so small a matter with you that it doth no good to the godlie Hee hath triumphed and spoyled them to frée vs from feare and hath taken the keyes of death and of hell into his owne hands to shew that all power is giuen him in heauen earth hell and that he can restrayne and bind Satan at his will and pleasure Is the performance and assurance of these things no coÌ„modity nor benefit to the godlie The redemption of Gods elect was you say fully finished on the Crosse. Deserued and obtained it was on the Crosse and by the crosse but not there executed There were our sinnes pardoned and our selues reconciled to God but as Christ died for our sinnes so he rose for our iusâ—ification His resurrectioÌ„ in that glorious manner which I haue mentioned in the treatise his ascension are necessary parts of our Saluation and therefore vse not the force of Christs crosse to exclude but to induce the rest For so doth the Apostle when he saith Christ humbled himselfe became obedient vnto y e death of the crosse Wherfore that is euen for that his humility obedience God hath highly exalted him giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euery knee bow of things in heauen in earth vnder the earth So that his descending rising and ascending added nothing to the force of his death but shewed the fruite thereof and tend all to our good since wee are presentlie secured from the power of hell and Satan and shall be certainelie raysed and receaued to glorie Christes death without his resurrection and ascension had beene our confusion and no redemption for if sinne had slaine him without rising it must needes haue damned vs without hoping now in his Resurrection as euery Enemie was most mighty so was there most néed he should be subdued But hereof I haue spoken so largelie before that I shall not néede to rehearse it againe with turning the page it maie soone bee seene But The Scriptures you tell vs are clearely against Christs going to Hell For this daie sayd Christ to the theefe thou shâ—lt bee with mee in Paradise All this must needes be of his humane soule verelie without all question There is none can consider herein his Deitie If anie thinke his soule might goe to hell first and presentlie goe thence to heauen yer night also that is ridiculous and toyish You haue so manie toyes in your head Syr Refuter that a coloured cap would well become it when you come to a non plus in your proofes then you crie this is ridiculous and toyifh Go like your selfe and looke to the ridiculous toyes that you bring vs in euery page almost You would prooue forsooth that the SCRIPTVRES ARE CLEARE against Christs being in hell at anie time betwéene his death and his Resurrection for your warrant you bring his words to the theefe on the crosse this daie thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise and at his death when he sayd Father into thy hands I commend my spirite And when the places conclude no such thing as you would haue them nor anie thing néere it then you helpe it with outcries and saie There is no man of sense considering these circumstances that can iudge otherwise But will your wisdome remember that S. Austen in his 57. Epistle discussing this place of purpose to day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise saith the word MEE maie verie readily and easily bee referred to Christs Godhead promising the thiefe Paradise that present daie and all the childish amplifications that you haue brought vs to the contrarie are not worth a nut-shell to conteruaile S. Austens iudgement But graunt it were ment of Christs soule are you so perfect in the length of the waie from hell to Paradise and the wearines of Christs soule in going to both that you be sure he could not do both that daie You thinke belike Christ would not goe thither but to view the deuils one by one and call their names to sée who were absent You haue forgotten that with his presence or with his word whiles hee liued here on earth hee could torment the diuels and therefore if it pleased him but to shewe himselfe who hee was whom they had so despitefullie pursued by the handes and tongues of the wicked on the Crosse all hell must not onelie bende and bowe vnto him but feare and fall before him Againe what coulde hinder though he did not descende that daie which hee died but hee might so doe the daie that hee rose and euen when hee was to rise to loose all the strength of hell before him and to let Satan see that his kingdome was ouerthrowne by that death at which hee so much insulted and reioyced The time I doe not determine though I thinke it pertained rather to the glorie of his resurrection then otherwise as I
light and daâ—kenes truth falshood wil any wise man entertaine your poetical furies The Gentiles you will sate tooke HADES for the worlds of the deade the worlde of soules departed generallie and indefinitelie were they in hell or in heauen and this is no error you think against the faith But this is an open falshood coÌ„mitted against your owne classicall writers and if your cunning in the greeke Poets bee no profounder the boies in Grammer schooles will deride it I praie you sir by your Greeke Poets Homer Hesiode and others what is HADES originallie the name of a person or of a place I aske you none other question but that which euerie childe acquainted with your Poets canne readilie tell which your maisters of the Gréeke tongue Plutarch and Plato confesse which euerie speech that you or your Instructor bringeth out of his Poets doth confirme And here christian Reader I must praie thy patience and pardon if I turne from the scriptures and fathers to the Poets and their fables I haue no desire to it nor delight in it but such is the insolence of these men grounded vpon ignoraÌ„ce that it may not bee endured and without some entering into these matters it will not bee displaied I will saie no more then I must néedes and omit what is not materiall Homer the first and eldest of your classicall writers imagineth that the thrée sonnes of Saturnus whom hee supposeth to bee Gods deuided the gouernement of the whole worlde betwéene them Iupiter taking the skie and the aire Neptune the water with her déepes and riuers and Pluto the heart of the earth with all the dead of what sort soeuer This thirde sonne of Saturne and owner of the deade is hee that Homer and all the Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES his name being diuerslie declined and inflected to serue their verse but still the same person Homer in the 15. of his Iliades maketh Neptune thus to speake We are three brethren the sonnes of Saturne by Rhea Iupiter and I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the third is HADES the ruler of those y t lie dead in the earth The whole was deuided into three parts my lot was to dwell alwaies in the sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and HADES lot was to haue the darke mist and to Iupiter fell by lot the large heauen with the skie and clowdes This HADES or God of the deade Homer calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the god vnder the earth and giueth him in the same booke these properties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES implacable fierce for that cause of all y e gods the most odious to men Hesiode agréeth with Homer that Rhea companying with Saturne brought him notable children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euen mightie HADES that dwelleth in housen vnder the earth and hath a cruell and mercilesse heart The same Hades he maketh the gouernour of the deade as Homer doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES was afraid that is ruler of the deade vnder the earth This is that hades which you so much talke of to whose house your Poets make all the dead iust vniust good and bad to come and therefore the most of your authorities out of the Greeke Poets and others haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnderstanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shewe that the deade go or come to HADES HOVSE or dwelling The rest of your classicall writers and masters of the Gréeke tongue both Plato and Plutarch alleadge and approue this fable of Homer Plato in his dialogue of rhetorick called Gorgias maketh Socrates thus to saie Heare then a very excellent tale which you will thinke a fable but I a good lesson That which I will saie I will speake to you for a trueth As Homer reporteth Iupiter Neptune and Pluto deuided the gouernement after they receaued it of their father There was a lawe touching men vnder Saturnus and euer was and still is with the gods that such men as led a iust and holie life when they departed hence shoulde goe to the Iles of the blessed and there liue in all happinesse without any euill and they that had beene wicked and vngodlie should goe to the prison of punishment and vengeance which is called Tartarus The iudges of these matters in Saturnes time and in the beginning of Iupiters raigne were the liuing of such as yet liued and gaue iudgement the same daie that each man should die wherefore their iudgement was corrupt PLVTO theÌ„ and the Gardians of the blessed Ilands going to Iupiter tolde him that there came vnto them men to either place vnmeete for that condition To whome Iupiter aunswered I will see it redressed The iudgementes are therefore now amisse because they that are iudged are couered round for they are iudged aliue and so many that haue wicked soules are compassed with beauty nobility riches and manie come to the place of iudgement depose they liued honestlie and so the iudges are astonished as also the iudges theÌ„selues are clogged hauing their soules wrapped with their eies and eares and the rest of their bodie First therfore men must be kept from foreseeing the time of their death TheÌ„ they must be iudged wheÌ„ they are naked from all these thinges that is after death and the Iudge likewise must be deade also that he may be free froÌ„ these lets and wiâ—h his soule he must view the soule of euery man newly dead forsaken of all his kind stripped of al worldly pompe that the iudgement may be sincere And I foreseeing this before you haue appointed Iudges two of my sons Minos Rhadamanthus out of Asia and a third which is Aeacus out of Europe These when they are dead shall iudge in an open meade in the meeting of three waies whereof two shall leade one to the Iles of the blessed another to Tartarus The soules of Asia shall be iudged by RhadamaÌ„thus those of Europe by Aeacus to Minos will I giue the prerogatiue to decide y e doubts that shall arise in either place y t the iudgmeÌ„t may be very eueÌ„ which shal send soules to their places This is that wich I haue heard beleeue to be true by their speeches am perswaded there is some such thing Thus far Plutarch citeth out of Plato y e iudges places for the dead al this within Plutoes kingdom vnder y e earth which they call HADES where as well the places pleasures for the good as the prisons punishmentes for the bad are in their conceit prepared sètled And this if you doubt read either Vlisses descent to HADES described by Homer in the 11. book of his Odisseas or Aeneas iourney to hel set forth by Virgil in the sixt booke of his Aeneidos or Dyonisius voiage to see Euripides expressed by Aristophanes as also the like aduentures of Hercules
Theseus mentioned by Euripides others you shall see THE VVORLD OF THE DEAD or THE VVORLD OF SOVLES be they good or bad to be in Plutoes kingdom which the gréek Poets cal HADES therfore vnlesse the distemper of your braines make you weary of Christian religion and incline you to Paganisme I doe not see what reason moueth you to bring Homers HADES to expounde the Creede And were you permitted so to doe what gaine you by it For Homers HADES is y e region vnder the earth where the good are kept in pleasant fields and the wicked in places of punishment and this is euidentlie the hell of the Poets and Pagans to which by your own classical authentical exposition Christ did descend if their HADES be receaued into the creede But Plato the wise Maister taketh it sometime for heauen as namelie in his Phaedone where speaking in the person of Socrates a little before his death he saith The soule beeing an inuisible thing goeth hence to another place like to it selfe that is to a noble pure and inuisible in HADES in truth to a good and wise God whither if God will my soule shall presentlie goe Did you not propose Plato to bee an expounder of the Creede and preferre him as a wise maister before all the fathers because you thinke hee fitteth your humour right I coulde suffer him to haue his praise but in this case I must saie of him as Tertullian doeth Doleo bona fide Platonem omnium haereticorum condimentorium factum Illius est enim in Phaedone quod animae hinc euntes sint illinc inde hinc I am sorie in good sadnesse that Plato is becom the Apothecary of al heresies For it is his opinion euen in his Thaedone that soules go hence thither and thence hither Your wise Masters report of HADES and PLVTO was the priuate opinion of Socrates against the common consent of Homer and all the poets and against the receiued perswasion of the people The conceite it selfe is full of pride errour and paganish infidelitie absurditie and blasphemie And yet all this being verie true Platoes wordes importe no such thing as you imagine that HADES is that heauen where God and his saintes remaine And therefore Sir Confuter if you be wearie as well of the Apostles as of the fathers and insteed of Christ will haue Plato to teach men the mysteries of the kingdome of heauen Englande where God be thanked there is a religious vertuous and wise prince ruling with christian lawes and a number of learned and graue both Counsellors Bishops Iudges and others that will endure no such prophanenes is no fit place for you to bring in Platoes heauen If I proue not these exceptions which I take to your wise maisters imagination let me beare the shame if I do look you your fellowes how well you deserue of Christian religion to make the saintes to rest and Christ to raigne either in Platoes heauen or in Homers hades For the first it is euident the Poets all wiâ—h one consent placed HADES BELOVVE VNDER THE EARTH and not aboue in the skies nor in heauen Homer and Hesiod you haue hearde Aristophanes maketh Dionysius desirous to see Euripides nowe deade and therefore sendeth him to Hercules to learne the waie to whome professing that no man shall perswade him not to goe to Euripides Hercules replieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wilt thou goe TO HADES BELOVVE to see him where Plutoes kingdome is described aunswerable to the rest of the Poets In Euripides the ghost of Polydor beginneth the first tragedie thus Here am I come leauing the dennes of the dead and the gates of darkenesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where HADES hath his seate seuered from the gods Pindarus speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the godlie that are in HADES saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them the strength of the sonne doth lighten the NIGHT that is there BELOVV Euripides maketh Hercules after the murther of his wife and children to saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dying I will go vnder the earth whence I came Nowe whence Hercules came is expressed before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 returning from the darke chambers of the queene of HADES BELOVV In like sort Sophocles maketh Aiax to saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rest I will speake to the spirites BELOVV IN HADES So Hercules remembring his workes saith with these armes I drew by force that inexpugnable Monster 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the three headed whelpe of HADES VNDER EARTH Simonides shewing how manie waies men end their liues some by sickenesse some by warre some by sea saith such as are tamed or conquered in warre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES sendeth vnder the blacke earth Orpheus one of the eldest Maisters of the Greeke tongue without comparison that liued in the time of the Iudges of Israel as Suidas testifieth and not so farre infected with fables as those Philosophers and Poets that came after him describing the true God that as he saith Moses wrote of calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the king of the heaueÌ„s of the earth of the sea AND OF HADES before whom Diuels do tremble and the whole companie of gods or Angels doe feare Where in olde Greeke and good diuinitie HADES is seuered from heauen sea and earth and consequentlie must be properlie HELL And so if you runne ouer all the Poets you shall finde that with one generall consent they placed Hades not onelie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 below but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnder the earth This was the opinion of the people The common people saith Lucian perswaded by Homer Hesiodus and the rest of the poets and taking their poems for a law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beleeue HADES to be a deepe place vnder the earth and that Pluto Iupiters brother raigneth ouer that gulph the kingdome of the deade falling to him by lotte and hee ordering howe they shall liue there belowe The place was so called from the name of the person whome they supposed to bee gouernour of it otherwise HADES was the proper name of Pluto as Plato himselfe confesseth in Cratylo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As for HADES the most part of men seeme to me to conceiue by the name that which is darke or which can not bee seene and fearing the name they call him PLVTO And howsoeuer Socrates in that place with a very false and â—ond reason goeth about to proue that the name of HADES as hee thinketh was not thence deriued but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from knowing al good things which in déede is but a iest and by no possibilitie can come within the compasse of that word yet both Plutarch and the prose commentator vpon Homer neglect this vtterly and vphold that which Socrates refused 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades and Acheron saith Plutarch haue their names from the
next such as being wearie of their liues killed themselues now willing to suffer pouertie or any paine on earth so they might returne to life againe In the fourth place are Lugentes Campi the wofull fields of such as died for loue in the fift Warriers and such as pursued each other with the sword where Aeneas saw all the Grecians and Troians that dyed at the siege of Troy Of all these places where yet are no punishments the Poet maketh Deiphobus to say to Aeneas what cause driueth thée Vt tristes sine fole domos loca turbida adires To come to the wofull housen without sunne and lothsome placesâ— Then leadeth the left hand to Tartarus which these men so much harpe at compassed with fierie Phlegeton and there are the punishments of the wicked then Plutoes palace and on the right hand Amaena vireta fortunatorum nemorum sedésque beatae The sweete springs of the fortunate woods and the blessed seats Here is the heauen which this confuter alleageth out of Virgil and here Aeneas found his father Anchises in a greene vale viewing the soules that dranke of the water of obliuion and were tâ— take new bodies on earth againe His words are Animae quibus altera fato Corpora debentur Lethei ad â—luminis vndam Securos latices long a obliuia potant The soules who by destinie are to take bodies the second time doe here at the Riuer of Lethe drinke the waters of vtter forgetfulnes no way remembring whatsoeuer they saw or knew either whiles they first liued or during the time of their abode vnder earth And because it séemed strange to Aeneas that soules should come to take other bodies though this be right Platoes fansie in his Phaedone Anchises telleth his sonne the secrets of Platoes Purgatorie heauen and resurrection as Virgil conceiued them who was a great Platonist When men die saith he all the infections of their bodies cannot presently be taken from their soules Ergo exercentur poenis veterúmque maloruÌ„ supplicia expendunt Therefore the soules of such as are curable for the desperate and insanable are cast into Tartarus and neuer come thence by Platoes owne words are purged with paines and abide the punishment of their former infection some are hanged vp to the winde some are plunged vnder water some are clensed by fier Quisque suos patimur manes exinde per amplum Mittimur Elysium pauci laeta aruatenemus Donec longa dies perfecto temporis orbe Concretam exemit labem purúmque reliquit Aethereum sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem Has omnes vbi mille rotam voluêre per annos Letheum ad fluuium Deus euocat agmine longo Scilicet immemores supera vt conuexa reuisant Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reuerti Wee euery one of vs suffer our clensing and after that wee are sent out into the large Elysian fieldes where but a fewe of vs inhabite these pleasant places vntill long time hath taken awaye the bodilie infection and leaueth the aethereall sense pure and the vigour of the fierie and simple ayre Then after a thousand yeares God calleth all these soules thus purged and placed in the fortunate seates to the flood of Lethe that they may goe to the earth againe with vtter forgetfulnesse of all things and beginne to desire to returne to new bodies To these Elysian fields when Aeneas should come the Poet maketh Sybilla say Ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad vmbras Aeneas descendeth to his father euen to the soules below in Erebus And that Erebus is one of the infernall Gods as the Poets call them can bee no question For when Dido minding to kill her selfe prepared Sacra Ioui stygio Sacrifices to the infernall Iupiter the Poet maketh her Priest to inuocate Tercentum tonat ore deos Erebúmque Chaósque Three hundred gods and Erebus and Chaos This is the worlde of Soules that Virgil deliuered in his time which hée collected out of Plato this is the heauen that is contayned in HADES and INFERI Iudge thou Christian Reader whether this be not the high way to Paganisme to tell vs that this is the heauen where the Saints of God are in rest and whether Christ ascended For my part but that I thinke this confuter talketh of that hée knoweth not I must haue proclaymed him for a Pagan and therefore after hée séeth it if hée persist to say that heauen is either Homers HADES or Virgils INFERI I may not spare to discharge the dutie of a Christian man to let the whole realme vnderstand that this is open infidelitie cloaked vnder the name of Puritie Platoes world of Soules where it altereth from this is rather worse than better For hée saith the soules of euill men are clogged with their bodilie vncleanenes and wander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about tombes and graues as it is said and then put on the bodies of beastes birds or wormes And yâ—u Sir Confuter lighting on the first part of those wordes openly falsifie them and lewdly misapply them For in stéede of as it is said you translate as it is commonly said and by that worde COMMONLY of your owne adding and referred to the former words where there is a manifest distinction or pause betwixt them you bid the reader note that HADES is commonly called heauen For thus you write Againe Plato saith of heauen that it is an vnseene estate euen HADES as it is commonly called which you will by the side to be noted where Plato in that place speaketh not one word of heauen But such is the miserie of your cause you must belie your authors or else you will lacke proofes for your humours And touching the soules of all men that are borne Plato holdeth their soules had bodies before and staye in HADES vntill the time come that they must haue bodies againe and therefore all our knowledge heere is but the remembring of that wée knew before when our soules were in other bodies which is the opinion that Tertullian chargeth him with His owne wordes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is an auncient assertion which wee remember that soules departing hence are there and come hither againe and are new borne from the dead And least you should thinke hée did not consent to it hée saith somewhat after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are not deceiued confessing all this but there is in very trueth a returning of soules to liue againe on earth and of the dead spring the liuing Consult you and your Instructor whether you will bring this HADES or world of soules into the Créede or whether the thiefe from the Crosse ascended to this heauen together with the soule of our Sauiour But if these bee intolerable and abominable heresies to haue soules passe from bodie to bodie and Platoes HADES be nothing else but a continuall chopping and changing of soules from life to death and from death to life againe hale
he was forced to yéeld to such opinioÌ„s and to vse such words as were commonly receiued with all men and that is the direction which Aristotle giueth by the rule which you alleage that though we must learne to think as wise men do yet we must be content to speake as the people doe not that by so speaking we must alter the nature and proprietie of the words which wee vse but mynding to aduise or perswade the multitude we must condiscend as well to their vulgar phrases as to their generall and receiued opinions And therefore as the people thought all men dying to descend vnder the earth to Inferi so Cicero speaking in open place vseth this same phrase whatsoeuer he priuately thought of the place where the dead were From Pagans Syr Refuter you returne to ChristiaÌ„s whom before you accused for altering changing the autheÌ„ticke vse of words you now alleadge as obseruing the true proprietie of the same word for which you did chalenge them before Hereunto let vs adde saie you that the latter learned writers euen Christians haue also espied and graunted this proprietie of the latin word Infernum or Inferi as also of the Greeke HADES Ierom saith Infernus is a place where the soules are included either in rest or in paines The farder you go the more you shew you vnderstand neither Pagans nor Christians The fault you found with the latin Fathers was that they vse the word Inferi to signifie hell properlie and particularlie that is the place of the Damned or else an other particular place vnder the earth a part of hell and not farre from hell it self where soules remayned if not in paines yet in prison far from the place of eternall blessednes ioy but this you affirme is a meere and plaine abusion of the word And within two leaues when Ierom saith the verie same thing which you misliked before and called a meere and plaine abusion of the word you confesse hee espied the true proprietie of the word Infernus This is banding of Balles in a tennis Court and not anie searching after a truth in the church of God But when your learning reacheth no furder you must needes breath out your ignorance or bridle your toong which hath runne so long on a voluntarie that you cannot tell when you bee out nor when you bée in Ierom indéede was of opinion that before Christs death the soules of all as well good as bad were shut vp in a place within the earth the good in rest and expectance of Christs comming thither by him to bee deliuered the badde in paines and torments This place common to both sorts but wich different effects Ierom calleth Infernus which in our English toong is hell Of this place he saith Infernus locus est in quo animaerecluduntur siue in refrigerio siue in poenis Hell is a place in which soules are included either in rest or in paine Here you saie Ierom espied the proprietie of the latine word Infernum or Inferi Bee it so since you will needes haue it so But Infernum in this place doth no waie signifie the kingdome of heauen Ergo the true proprietie of the worde Infernum doeth not signifie the kingdome of heauen The Maior is your owne The Minor by Gods grace I will prooue euen out of Ierom. Marke well his wordes Quid simile Infernâ—â— regna caelorum What likenes haue Infernus and the kingdome of heauen you saie Infernus is taken by Ierome for the kingdome of heauen Ierome himselfe telleth you the one hath no likenesse to the other Are you not caught like a long beaked thing in your owne grin and because you shall perceiue it is not a tricke but a truth that I presse you wiâ—h out of Ierom that INFERNVS by no meanes is the kingdome of God and consequentlie must be properlie hell except you will builde newe receptacles for soules after Christs ascension where they may bee neither in hel nor in heauen you shal haue more out of Ierom touching the true proprieties of these words CERNE PROPRIETATES AD INFERNVM DESCENDITVR AD COELVM CONSCENDITVR MARKE THE PROPRIETIES of these two words TO HELL MEN DESCEND TO HEAVEN MEN ASCENDE And againe Nota ante aduentum Christi quamuis sanctos omnes Inferni lege detentos Porro quod sancti post resurrectioneÌ„ domini nequaquam teneantur inferno testatur Apostolus dicens melius est dissolui esse cum Christo Qut autem cum christo est vtique non tenetur in Inferno Note that before Christs comming all euen the saints theÌ„selues were detained vnder the lawe of hel but that after the resurrection of our Sauior they are not helde in hel the Apostle witnesseth when he saith It is better to be dissolued and to bee with Christ. And he that is with Christ certainely is not detained in hell There is no shifting from the force of these words Afore Christs comming the saints were in Inferno after his ascension they were not For hee that is with Christ is not in Inferno Saie if you dare that Infernus here is the kingdom of God For then these absurdities will pursue you That after Christes ascension the saintes are not in the kingdome of heauen and he that is with Christ is not in the kingdome of Christ wherefore maugre your bearde if you haue anie Infernus with Ierom is trulie and properlie hell and in no wise the kingdome of heauen as you imagine Thus thriue you by your own authors whom you produce to make the world beleeue that formerlie HADES INFERI did signifie heauen such heauens if you be wise keepe your selfe from neither professe to expound the Créed by the Classicall masters of the gréeke tongue being Poets Pagans What is to be thought of that opinion of the Fathers that the saints before Christs comming were in Inferno in hel but frée from feare or torment though in some darknes as also whence they tooke the ground of that assertion I haue shewed in the end of the treatise before as much as néeded to this question there with ease it may be perused They mistooke you will saie the word Infernum in the old testament and thence grew their opinioÌ„ that the Patriarks and prophets before Christes comming went to hell but the scriptures had no such meaning for neither the worde Sheol with the Hebrues nor the worde Hades with the Septuagint had any such sense to signifie hell And this a notable argument y t Hades signifieth the world of soules or generall state of the dead were they in hel or in heauen Wee are all this while out of our proper element to sift heathen philosophers Poets for the meaning of the créede a little smattering in the Greeke tongue made the Refuter so arrogant that hee bid defiance to all the fathers both gréeke and Latin as vnable to vnderstande one poore word in
his sonnes you will make my hoare haires descend to Sheol with sorrow and likewise when Dauid said to Salomon thou shalt make Shemeis hoare haires descende to Sheol with bloud are there white haires or bloud in the worlde of soules as there are in the graue this is the state of deade bodies but not of soules departed In the destruction of Core Dathan and Abiran the Scripture saieth the earth opened her mouth swallowed them vp and their howsen and they descended and all that were with them aliue to Sheol Aliue is both bodie and soule in euerie mans eie For had those two beene seuered they had béene dead Doe the bodies of men descende to your world of soules or is it plaine that in this place must be meant by Sheol either hell which receiued both their bodies and soules that were in that rebellion against God or at least the heart of the earth which receaued them liuing whereas other men die before they are committed to the earth like sheepe saieth Dauid shall they bee laide in Sheol Are there shéepe or anie resemblance of sheepe in your worlde of soules or doth Dauid rather meane that as shéepe are bounde and then slaine and cast on heapes so shall the wicked bee handled nowe as manie places in the scriptures as note Sheol to be below caÌ„not be referred to your worlde of soules for they are as well on high in heauen as below in hell And therefore of force Sheol must in all those places either importe hell which is belowe or the graue which is lower then the earth whereon men doe liue Thou hast deliuered my soule saith Dauid from the lower Sheol And Esaie of the King of Babell Sheol belowe was afraide at thy comming and raised vp her mightie men to meete thee and to saie vnto thee art thou also weakened as well as wee is thy pride depressed to Sheol This cannot bee meant of the generall and indefinite state of the deade nor of the worlde of soules for manie of them were on high in strength and ioie not in feare and weakenesse as here they are described in Sheol And therefore rufâ—â—le you and your abettour as long as you list with tauntes and tearmes fell crakes fray not such as bee priuie to your lame legs Again heauen is namelie expressed and opposed to Sheol how can heauen be included in Sheol To the high heauens what wilt thou do it is lower then Sheol how wilt thou know it Will your learning serue you to make the high heauens a part of the lowe Sheol If I ascend to heauen thou art there saieth Dauid to God if I lie downe in Sheol there art thou also So God himselfe by Amos If they dig to Sheol there shall my hande fetch them if they ascend to heauen thence will I bring them downe And to the king of Babilon Thou saiedst in thine heart I will ascende to heauen and climbe aboue the highth of the cloudes but thou shalt be pluckt down to Sheol euen to the sides of the pit To men of anie meane capacitie I thinke it be manifest that ascending here cannot be descending consequentlie that heauen is no part of Sheol but a place rather opposed against it albeit your impudencie be such y t in the Creed you expound he descended into hell by the cleane contrarie that is he ascended into heauen But what will not men of your face and fansie doe I hope all good men will beware of such expositians We deride the Glosse of the Canon lawâ— for saying Statuimus id est abrogamus wee establish that is we abrogate How ridiculous and audacious then is this presumption to saie Christ descended into hel that is he ascended vp to heauen but hereof in the close when we haue first cleared your fonde conceites of SHEOL AND HADES The dead praise thee not saith Dauid to God nor all that descende into silence If the scriptures affirme as much of Sheol how can Sheol be the world of soules yea how can Sheol bee heauen where the soules night and daie that is euerlastinglie do nothing but praise God and confesse vnto him the honor of his name Sheol saieth Esay cannot confesse vnto thee neither can such as descende vnto the pit trust in thy truth Yea saieth Salomon There is no worke thought knowledge nor wisedome in Sheol whither thou goest If Sheol bee the world of soules they be all a sleepe that neither doe speake nor thinke anie thing Small are their ioyes and lesse are their paines which they neuer so much as thinke of So that neither hell nor heauen nor any part of your world of soules can bee heere vnderstoode by Sheol in Salomons wordes but of meere force it must be the Graue where the bodie lyeth voide of sense speach action or cogitation The rest of the places of the olde Testament where Sheol is named concurre with these and import either the graue which is common to the godlie with the wicked or else that pit which is prepared for the soules of the wicked which can bee none other place but preciselie and properlie HELL What textes they are of the lawe and the prophets where Sheol is named that cannot bee reffered to the graue I haue in the treatise before specified and handled such of them as I thought sufficient especiallie receauing no answere to my reasons but the Sphingicall perplexities of an high minded Maister whose wordes with mee though they bee of the largest size are but winde And therefore I rest vpon the same groundes and proofes which I make before and stande to iustifie that in no place of the olde or newe testament where SHEOL or HADES are named their world of soules is or canne bee vnderstoode let them name mee the places I will presentlie send them by Gods grace an answere As for HADES good Reader by which worde the Septuagint expresse the Hebrue SHEOL in all these textes where thou seest the worde SHEOL thou maiest assure thy selfe the Septuagint vse HADES in stéede thereof and the verie same reasons that serue for Sheol serue for HADES in euerie point without exception And that maketh me wholie to skippe the handling of HADES in the Septuagint and to referre the discussing thereof till I come to the places of the newe Testament Now the consequent of that I haue alleaged either heere or before is this that by SHEOL and HADES in the olde Testament must néedes be meante either HELL the GRAVE or their VVORLDE OF SOVLES which they so much talke of if no place in the olde Testament doe necessarilie enforce their worlde of soules to bee vnderstoode by either of these wordes then it remaineth that in what textes the graue maie not bee endured to bee the meaning of either of these wordes there wee conceaue the place of the damned must bee intended in either of them Peruse both the obseruations and allegations before
quia sacrificium pro peccato The sacrifice for sinne is in the law called sinne The lawe still so vseth the word not once nor twice but verie often Such a sinne was Christ he had no sinne and yet he was sinne He was sinne because he was the sacrifice for sinne So Ambrose Because Christ was offered for sinne worthilie is he said to be made sinne because in the lawe the sacrifice that is offered for sinne is called sinne This waie if you conster S. Paules words they conclude directlie against your irreligious supposition For if Christ when hee tooke vs into his bodie did clense our sinnes by the offering of himselfe hee became not defiled by our sinnes Hee did not clense vs that was defiled by vs. Howsoeuer you take those wordes Such an high priest it became vs to haue saieth the Apostle as was holy harmlesse VNDEFILED SEPARATE from sinners If the Priest were defiled the sacrifice could not be accepted If Christ were separate from sinners then was hee not polluted by sinners He tooke our sinnes vnto him not to drawe anie pollution from them but to make y e purgation of them He that coulde clense vs from our sinnes howe much more coulde hee kéepe himselfe from beeing defiled with our sinnes If we follow the other sense of S. Pauls wordes that Christ was made sinne for vs that is the punishment of our sinne wee must take héede that wee bring him not within the guiltinesse of our sinnes as we doe within the punishment of our sinnes Suscepit Christus sine reaâ—u supplicium nostrum vt inde solueret reatum nostrum siuiret etiam supplicium nostrum Christ vndertooke saith Austen our punishment without our guilt that so hee might remit our guilt and ende our paine Christ saieth Cyprian endured by Moses and his owne Apostle to bee called a curse and sinne pro similitudine poenae non culpae for the likenesse of the paine not of the fault Dilexit nos Christus dulciter sapienter fortiter Dulce nempe dixerim quod carnem induit cautum quod culpam cauit forte quod mortem sustinuit Christ saith Bernard loued vs sweetelie wiselie stronglie Sweetelie in that he tooke our flesh wiselie in that hee shunned our guiltinesse strongâ—ie in that he suffered death for vs. If Christ tooke the paine but not the guilt of our sinnes howe came hee to bee defiled by our sinnes It must needes be either in ioining and vniting himselfe vnto vs or in answering and suffering for vs. Our vnion with Christ doth sanctifie vs it defileth not him We are as neere ioyned to Christ nowe raigning in heauen as wee were to Christ suffering on the Crosse. As wee died with him then in the bodie of his flesh so wee sitte togither with him in heauenlie thinges But our vnion and communion nowe though wee bee sinfull and mortall doth no waie defile him no more did it then when hee suffered for vs. If you saie our sinnes were imputed vnto him when he was crucified for them that increaseth the perfection of his loue it argueth not anie pollution of his soule To die for wicked men did not touche him with anie taint of our sinnes but GOD saieth the Apostle setteth out his loue towardes vs in this that whiles wee were yet sinners Christ died for vs. The iust therefore did die for the vniust and was no partner of our iniustice hee that saued vs from our sinnes did not defile himselfe with them And where all this is grounded vppon a simple similitude that a suertie by vndertaking for a debtour maketh the debt his owne though hee neuer borrowed the money it is easilie and trulie aunswered that Christ did not vndertake wee shoulde not sinne nor that wee should paie the debt which wee did owe but when wee had sinned and were able no waie to aunswere the iustice of GOD but by our euerlasting destruction of bodie and soule it pleased the sonne of God to interpose himselfe and no waie bound to vs or for vs to intreate his father f that in his owne person hee might make recompence for our sinnes and so as a Mediatour allowed of God hee tooke our nature and freelie not indebted willinglie not constrained Hee gaue himselfe for vs a sacrifice of a sweete sauour vnto God As if the whole people of anie lande rebelling against their King and beeing subdued and readie to be destroied the Kinges sonne loath to see his fathers kingdome dispeopled and so manie wretched men women and children put to fire and sworde shoulde importune his father at his request to bee gratious vnto them and to laie on him though hee bee his onelie sonne what chasticement the father in his wisedome and iustice shall thinke fitte for the repressing of the like outrage hereafter maie anie of those subiectes without extreame ingratitude and intolerable contumelie reproch the Kings sonne when hee suffereth for their sakes that hee is guiltie of their treason and both DEFILED with it and HATEFVLL for it I will not applie because it will presse you too farre but as mine owne perswasion is that no such sinfull and hatefull wordes haue or should be vsed in the Church of God to the dishonour of his sonne so my counsell to the sober and wise reader is to stop his eares and shut his eies against such defiled and accursed speeches You proceede to another proofe and where the Apostle saith Christ spoiled Principalities powers and made a shew of them openlie triumphing ouer them vpon these words you inferre These principalities are the diuels therefore it is certaine Christ FELT THEM to bee the verie instruments that VVROVGHT THE VERIE EFFECTS of Gods wrath VPON HIM This is the first place where you specifie anie effect of Gods wrath against Christs soule for you will haue the soule of Christ properlie and immediatelie to suffer the effectes of Gods wrath and that you prooue learnedlie and wiselie like your selfe The diuels haue nothing to do with the soules of men but either to tempt them to worke in them or to torment them To tempt is to trie how fast y e saints stand in the feare and loue of God And for that cause the wisdome of god hath from the beginning suffered all his saints his owne sonne not excepted to be tempted of satan For Christ coulde not be tempted by the corruption of his heart as we are but by Satans voice or by Satans members Of vs Iames saith Euerie man is tempted when he is entised and drawne away by his owne concupiscence Concupiscence there was none in Christ. He had no law in his flesh rebelling against the lawe of his minde as wee haue It is in vs the rage of originall sinne from which he was frée and therefore he coulde not bee tempted but by the eare as he was in y e desart by satan himself by Satans members al the time of his abode on earth In the
harts of men when y e diuel preuaileth with temptation there he worketh leading such as consent and yéeld vnto him into all wickednesse euen with greedinesse So he worketh in the children of disobedience as the Apostle testifieth This can haue no place in Christâ— because he did no sinne neither was there anie guile found in his mouth He that committeth sinne saith saint Iohn is of the diuel and for this purpose appeared the sonne of God that hee might dissolue the workes of the diuell Then since inward temptation by the hart Christ could haue none and outward temptation by the mouthes hands of the wicked is no effect of Gods wrath but rather a triall of Gods gifts and graces bestowed on vs It remaineth that if Christ felt the diuels as the very instruments that wrong he the verie effects of Gods wrath vpon him that is vpon his soule for that part of Christ you say must properly and immediateliâ— feele the wrath of God it resteth I saie by your owne wordes y e Christ FELT the DIVELS TORMENTING HIS SOVLE And indeede for so much as in executing the true paines of hell and of the damned God hath none other instruments but diuels you cannot defend that Christ suffered the paines of hell but you must graunt that Christ felt the diuels as instruments executing those paines on his soule Nowe the bodie of man they may torment with touching as they did Iobs the soule they can not but by possessing it For they can not woorke but where they are and therefore they must possesse the soule which they torment Is not here Christian Reader an wholesome clearke and an holie cause that concludeâ— Christes soule was possessed and tormented of diuels on the Crosse And the proofe is as ridiculous as the position is impious Christ spoiled principalities and powers and openlie triumphed ouer them ergo say you hee felt them the instruments of Gods wrath by tormenting his soule If your learning and Logicke serue you so well you may procéede Doctor in doâ—age when you will For my part christian Reader I will giue none other answere to these lewd and wicked absurdities but that which Iacob said to Simeon and Leâ—i Into their secret my soule shall not come To strengthen thee thou maiest remember what Peter saide of Christ. God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the holy ghost with power to heale all that were oppressed of the diuell for God was with him or else what Christ said of himselfe The prince of this world commeth and hath naught in me or at least what the diuels themselues said to Christ Iesus the sonne of God VVHAT HAVE VVE TO DO VVITH THEE Art thou come to torment vs before the time And so in the Gospell of saint Luke the soule spirit when he saw Iesus cried out what haue I to doe with thee Iesus the sonne of God most high I beseech thee torment me not But perchance I mistake him would God there were so much grace in him as to reuoke it or refuse it I woulde gladlie confesse mine errour in mistaking his wordes but what if he go on from bad to worse What if he heapeth vp reasons as he thinketh but indeede trifles void of sense and reason to confirme the same This reason will proue the same saith hee taken from the lesse to the more Thus do the members of Christ suffer Therefore of necessitie Christ our head suffered the like Yea to the Hebrues hee sheweth a reason which can neuer be refuted by the witte of man Christ succoured vs not but wherein hee had experience of our temptations and infirimities but he succoureth vs euen in these our temptations of feeling the terrours of God and the sorrowes of hell Therefore hee himselfe had experience of the same Adde hereunto that of all absurdities this is the greatest that meere men should suffer more deepely and bitterly then Christ did You haue more words then witte Sir Confuter that propose these childish arguments for inuincible reasons Your selfe shall sée the weakenes of them What soeuer the members of Christ say you did or shall suffer of necessitie Christ our head suffered the like Meane you in bodie or in soule or in both If in bodie thâ—n Christ had his eies put out for so had Sampson he was swalowed vp by a whale for so was Ionas hee was cast into a burning furnace for so were Sidrac Mishac and Abednego he was stoned to death for so were Naboth Steuen and others You meane not in bodie meane you then in soule Inwarde assaults of error lust and sinne Christ neuer had He was â—ree from all conflicts of heart that rise in vs from the roote or remorse of sinne that increase with weakenesse of faith want of grace and quenching of Gods spirite The terrors of minde which wee feele through conscience of our vnworthinesse ignorance of Gods counsell and distrust of Gods fauour hee neuer felt his faith admitted no doubting his loue excluded all fearing his hope reiected all despairing So that howe you shoulde make a falser proposition and more repugnant to the Apostles wordes which you alledge then this which you haue made I by no meanes can conceiue Hee was tempted in all thinges a like except sinne Then neither the rootes partes nor fruites of sinne must bee in him But the Apostle that excepteth sinne excepteth all sinnefull adherentes The punishment of sinne which proceedeth from the iustice of GOD and is no sinne that Christ might and did beare but in no wise those terrours and feares of conscience which proceede from sinne and augment sinne as doubting distrusting despairing in which GOD reuengeth sinne with sinne these muste bee farre from Christ vnlesse wee will wrappe him within the snares of our sinnes The feare of Gods Maiestie armed with mightie power to reuenge sinne is profitable to keepe vs from sinne therein Christ may communicate with vs though not to that ende â—or he could not sinne but fearing doubting or distrusting that God wil for our manifold sinnes cast vs from his presence and condemne vs to hell commeth in vs from the guiltinesse of conscience and weakenesse of faith and hope which in Christ neither had nor coulde haue anie place But the Apostle you saie sheweth a reason which can neuer bee refuted by the witte of man Christ succoured vs not but wherein he had experience of our temptations Are those wordes in the Apostle No you will saie but collected from the Apostles wordes where hee saith In that Christ suffered being tempted he can helpe those that are tempted Hence you conclude vpon your owne warrant that Christ can succour vs in no temptation but whereof himselfe had first experience and this you proclaime to be irrefutable Such lips such lettice such doctors such diuinitie Your collection Sir Refuter is not onelie farre different from the Apostles wordes but euidentlie repugnant to the christian