righteousnes and the blessednesse arising therefrom as well as we and the mediation of our Saviour being of that present efficacie that it tooke away sinne and brought in righteousnesse from the very beginning of the world it had vertue sufficient to free men from the penaltie of losse as well as from the penalty of sense and to bring them unto him in whose presence is fulnesse of joy as to deliver them from the place of torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth The first that ever assigned a resting place in Hell to the Fathers of the old Testament was as farre as wee can finde Marcion the heretick who determined that both kinde of rewards whether of torment or of refreshing was appointed in Hell for them that did obey the Law and the Prophets Wherein he was gainsayd by such as wrote against him not only for making that the place of their eternal rest but also for lodging them there at all and imagining that Abrahams bosome was any part of Hell This appeareth plainly by the disputation set out among the workes of Origen betwixt Marcus the Marcionite Adamantius the defender of the Catholicke cause who touching the parabolicall historie of the rich man Lazarus in the sixteenth of S. Luke are brought in reasoning after this maner MARCUS He saith that Aâ—raham is in hell and not in the kingdome of heaven ADAMANTIUS Reade whether he saytâ— that Abraham was in Hell MARC In that the rich man and he talked one to the other it appeareth that they were together ADAMANT That they talked one with another thou hearest but the great gulfe spoken of that thou hearest not For the middle space betwixt heaven and earth he calleth a gulfe MARC Can a man therefore see from earth unto heaven it is impossible Can any man lifting up his eyes behold from the earth or from hell rather see into heaven If not it is plain that a vally only was set betwixt them ADAMANT Bodily eyes use to see those things only that are neere but spirituall eyes reach farre and it is manifest that they who have here put off their body doe see one another with the eyes of their soule For marke how the Gospell doth say that he lifted up his eyes toward heaven one useth to lift them up and not toward the earth In like maner doth Tertullian also retort the same place of Scripture against Marcion and prove that it maketh a plaine difference betweene Hell and the bosome of Abraham For it affirmeth saith he both that a great deepe is interposed betwixt those regions and that it suffereth no passage from eyther side Neyther could the rich man have lifted up his eyes and that afarre off unlesse it had beene unto places above him and very farre above him by reason of the mightie distance betwixt that height and that depth Thus farre Tertullian who though he come short of Adamantius in making Abrahams bosome not to be any part of Heaven although no member at all of Hell yet doth he concurre with him in this that it is a place of blisse and a common receptacle wherein the soules of all the faithfull as well of the new as of the old Testament doe still remaine in expectation of the generall resurrection which quite marteth the Limbus Patrum of our Romanists and the journey which they fancie our Saviour to have taken for the fetching of the Fathers from thence With these two doth S. Augustin also ioyne in his 99. epistle to Euodius concerning whose iudgement herein I will not say the deceitfull but the exceeding partiall dealing of Cardinall Bellarmine can verie hardly be excused Although Augustin saith he in his 99. epistle do seeme to doubt whether the bosome of Abraham where the soules of the Fathers were in times past should be in Hell or somewhere else yet in the 20. booke of the Citie of God the 15. chapter he affirmeth that it was in Hell as all the rest of the Fathers have alwayes taught If S. Augustin in that epistle were of the minde as hee was indeed that Abrahams bosome was no part of Hell he was not the first inventer of that doctrine others taught it before him and opposed Marcion for teaching otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone he went not two there were at least as we have seen that walked along with him in the same way But for that which he is said to have doubted off in one place and to have affirmed in another if the indifferent Reader will be pleased but to view both the places he shall easily discerne that the Cardinall looked not into these things with a single eye In his 99. epistle from that speech of Abraham Betweene you and us there is a great gulfe fixed he maketh this inference In these words it appeareth sufficiently as I thinke that the bosome of so great happinesse is not any part and member of Hell These seem unto the Cardinall to be the words of a doubtfull man with what words then when he is better resolved doth he affirme the matter With these forsooth If it do seem no absurditie to beleeve that the old Saincts which held the faith of Christ to come were in places most remote from the torments of the wicked but yet in Hell untill the blood of Christ and his descent into those places did deliver them truely from henceforth the good and faithfull who are redeemed with that price already shed know not Hell at all If satis ut opinor apparet it appeareth sufficiently as I thinke must import doubting and si non absurdé credi videtur if it doe seeme no absurditie to beleeve affirming I know not I must confesse what to make of mens speeches The truth is S. Augustin in handling this question discovereth himselfe to be neyther of the Iesuits temper nor beleefe He esteemed not this to be such an article of faith that they who agreed not therein must needs be held to be of different religions as he doth modestly propound the reasons which induced him to think that Abrahams bosome was no member of Hell so doth he not lightly reiect the opinion of those that thought otherwise but leaveth it still as a disputable point Whether that bosome of Abraham where the wicked rich man when he was in the torments of Hell did behold the poore man resting were eyther to be accounted by the name of Paradise or esteemed to appertaine unto Hell I cannot readily affirme saith he in one place and in another Whether Abraham were then at any certaine place in Hell we cannot certainly define and in his 12. book de Genesi ad literam I have not hitherto found and I doe yet inquire neyther doe I remember that the canonicall Scripture doth any where put Hell in the good part Now that the bosome of Abraham and that rest unto which the godly poore man was carried by the
Angel should not be taken in the good part I know not whether any good man can endure to heare and therefore how we may beleeve that it is in Hell I doe not see Where it may further also be observed that S. Augustin doth here assigne no other place to this godly poore man then he doth unto the soules of all the faithfull that have departed since the comming of our Saviour Christ the question with him being alike of them both whether the place of their rest be designed by the name of Hell or Paradise Therefore he saith I confesse I have not yet found that it is called Hell where the soules of just men doe rest and againe How much more after this life may that bosome of Abraham be called Paradise where now there is no temptation where there is so great rest after all the griefes of this life For neyther is there wanting there a proper kinde of light and of it owne kinde aâ—d doubtlesse great which that rich man out of the torments and darknesse of Hell even from so remote a place where a great gulfe was placed in the midst did so behold that he might there take notice of the poore man whom sometime he had despised and elsewhere expounding that place in the 16. of S. Luke The bosome of Abraham saith he is the rest of the blessed poore whose is the kingdome of heaven in which after this life they are received Bede in his Commentaries upon the same place and Strabus in the ordinary Glosse doe directly follow S. Augustin in this exposition and the Greeke interpreter of S Luke who wrongly beareth the name of Titus Bostrensis and Chrysosâ—om for proofe thereof produceth the testimonie of Diâ—nysius Areopagita affirming that by the bosome of Abraham Isaac and Iacob those most divine and blessed seates are designed wâ—ich doe receive within them all just men after their most happy consummation The words that he hath relation unto be these in the 7. chapter of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy The bosomes of the blessed Paâ—riarches and of all the rest of the Saincts are as I thinke the most divine and blessed resting places which doe receiâ—e all such as are like unto God into that never-fading and most blessed perfection that is therein Hitherto appertaine those passages in S. Ambrose Come into the bosome of Iacob that as poore Lazarus did in the bosome of Abraham so thou also mayst rest in the tranquillitie of the patriarch Iacob For the bosome of the Patriarches is a certaine retyring place of everlasting rest We shall goe where holy Abraham openeth his bosome to receive the poore as he did receive Lazarus in which bosome they doe rest who in this world have endured grievous and sharpe things Into Paradise is a ascent into Hell a descent Let them descend saith he quick into Hell And therefore poore Lazarus was by the Angels lifted up into Abrahams bosome Behold that poore man abounding with all good things whom the blessed rest of the holy Patriarch did compasse about Lazarus lying in Abrahams bosome enjoyed everlasting life S. Chrysostom or whosoever else was the author of that homily touching the Rich man and Lazarus upon those wordes of the text that the rich man lifting up his eyes beheld Lazarus in Abrahams bosome moveth this question Why Lazarus did not see the rich man as well as the rich man is said to see Lazarus and giveth this answer thereunto because he that is in the light doth not see him that standeth in the darke but hee that is in the darke beholdeth him that is in the light taking it for granted that Abrahams bosome was a place of light and not of darkenesse He that wrote the Homily upon that sentence of the Psalme What man is he that would have life and desireth to see good dayes who is commonly also though not rightly accounted to be Chrysostom goeth further and saith that the rich man lifted up his eyes unto Heaven out of the place of torments and cryed unto father Abraham yea he expressely affirmeth there that the blessed poore man did go unto Heaven and the rich man covered with purple did remaine in Hell which agreeth well with that undoubted saying of S. Chrysostome himselfe Lazarus who vvas worthy of Heaven and the kingdome that is there being full of sores was exposed to the tongues of doggs and strove with perpetuall hunger and with that which he writeth elsewhere that after famine and soares and lying in the porch he enjoyed that refreshing which is impossible to be expressed by speech even unspeakable good things Whereunto may be added that collection of his out of the words of our Saviour Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit downe with Abraham and Isaak and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven Matth. 8.11 that this kingdome is designed here by a new terme of the bosome of Abraham and the consummation of all good called by the name of the bosomes of the Patriarches S. Basil in his sermon of Fasting placeth Lazarus in Paradise Dost not thou see Lazarus saith he how he entred by fasting into Paradise and the ancient compiler of the Latin sermon translated from thence frameth his exhortation accordingly Let us therefore use this way whereby we may returne unto Paradise Thither is Lazarus gone before us Asterius Bishop of Amasea placeth him in a sweet and joyous state Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria in unexpected delights Salvianus in blisse and everlasting wealth The poore man saith he bought blisse with beggerie the rich man punishment with wealth The poore man when he had just nothing bought everlasting riches with penury Gregory Nazianzen saith he was enriched with refreshment in the bosomes of Abraham that are so much to be desired Prudentius in his poeticall vaine describeth him to be there hedged about with floures as being in the garden of Paradise even in the same paradise wherein pure soules do now rest since the ascension of Christ. for thus he writeth Sed dum resolubile corpus Revocas Deus atque reformas Quânam regione jubebis Animam requiescere puram Gremio senis abdita sancti Recubabit ubi est Eleazar Quem floribus undique septum Dives procul adspicit ardens Sequimur tua dicta Redemptor Quibus atrâ é morte triumphans Tua per vestigia mandas Socium crucis ire latronem So where Iob sayeth Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither the Greeke scholies expound it thus Thither namely unto God unto that blessed end and rest which the author of the Commentaries upon Iob ascribed to Origen expresseth thus at large Thither will I goe saith he where are the tabernacles of the righteous where the glories of the Saints are where is the rest of the faithfull where is the consolation
honour and magnifie thee ô giver of life Thou wast put in the tombe being voluntarily made dead and didst emptie all the palaces of hell ô immortall King raysing up the dead with thy ResurrectioÌ„ Thou who spoyledst hell by thy buriall be mindfull of me Hitherto also belongeth that of Prudentius in his Apotheosis tumuloque inferna refringens Regna resurgentes secum jubet ire sepultos Coelum habitat terris intervenit abdita rumpit Tartara vera fides Deus est qui totus ubique est where in saying that our Saviour by his grave did break up the infernall kingdomes and commanded those that were buried to rise up with him he hath reference unto that part of the history of the Gospell wherein it is recorded that The graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy citie and appeared unto many Matth. 27.52 53. upon which place S. Hilary writeth thus Inlightning the darkenesse of death and shining in the obscure places of Hell by the resurrection of the Saints that were seene at the present he tooke away the spoyles of death it selfe To the same effect writeth S. Ambrose also Neither did his sepulchre want a miracle For when he was anoynted by Ioseph and buried in his tombe by a new kinde of worke he that was dead himselfe did open the sepulchres of the dead His body indeed did lye in the grave but he himselfe being free among the dead did give libertie unto them that were placed in Hell dissolving the law of death For his flesh was in the tombe but his power did worke from heaven which may be a sufficient commentary upon that sentence which we reade in the Exposition of the Creed attributed unto S. Chrysostom He descended into Hell that there also he might not want a miracle For many bodies of the Saints arose with Christ. namely HELL rendring up the BODIES of the Saints alive againe as eyther the same or another author that goeth under the like name of Chrysostom doth elsewhere directly affirme which is a further confirmation of that which we have heard delivered by Ruffinus touching the exposition of the article of the Descent into Hell that the substance thereof seemeth to be the same with that of the Buriall for what other Hell can we imagin it to be but the Grave that thus receiveth and giveth up the bodies of men departed this life And hitherto also may bee referâ—ed that famous saying of Christs descending alone ascending with a multitude which we meet withall in foure severall places of antiquitie First in the hâ—ads of the sermon of Thaddaeus as they are reported by Eusebius out of the Syriack records of the citie of Edessa He was crucified and descended into Hades or Hell and brake the rampiere never broken before since the beginning and rose againe and raysed up with him those dead that had slept from the beginning and descended alone but ascended to his Father with a great multitude Secondly in the epistle of Ignatius unto the Trallians He was truly and not in opinion crucified and died those that were in heaven and in earth and under the earth beholding him those in heaven as the incorporeall natures those in earth to wit the Iewes and the Romanes and such men as were present at that time when the Lord was crucified those under the earth as the multitude that rose up together with the Lord for many bodies saith he of the Saints which slept arose the graves being opened And hee descended into Hades or Hell alone but returned with a multitude and brake the rampiere that had stood from the beginning and overthrew the partition thereof Thirdly in the disputation of Macarius Bishop of Ierusalem in the first generall Councell of Nice After death wee were carried into Hades or Hell Christ tooke upon him this also and descended voluntarily into it he was not detayned as wee but descended onely For hee was not subjected unto death but was the Lord of death And descending alone he returned with a multitude For he was that spirituall graine of wheat falling for us into the earth and dying in the flesh who by the power of his godhead raysed up the temple of his body according to the Scriptures which brought forth for fruite the Resurrection of all mankinde Fourthly in the Catechises of Cyrill Bishop of Ierusalem whose wordes are these I beleeve that Christ was raysed from the dead For of this I have many witnesses both out of the divine scriptures from the witnesse and operation even unto this day of him that rose againe of him I say that descended into Hades or Hell alone but asceÌ„ded with many For he did descend unto death many bodies of the Saints that slept were raised by him which resurrection he seemeth afterward to make common unto all the Saints that dyed before our Saviour All the righteous men saith he were delivered whom death had devoured For it became the proclaymed King to be the deliverer of those good proclaymers of him Then did every one of the righteous say O death where is thy victory ô Hell where is thy sting for the conqueror hath delivered us wherewith we may compare that saying of S. Chrysostom If it were a great matter that Lazarus being foure dayes dead should come forth much more that all they who were dead of old should appeare together alive which was a signe of the future resurrection For many bodies of the Saints which slept arose saith the text and these articles of the Confession of the Armenians According to his body which was dead he descended into the grave but according to his divinitie which did live he over came Hell in the meane time The third day he rose againe but withall raysâ—d up the soules or persons of the faithfull together with him and gave hope thereby that our bodies also should rise againe like unto him at his second comming Of those who arose with our Saviour from the Grave or as anciently they used to speake from Hell two there be whom the Fathers nominate in particular Adam and Iob. Of Iob S. Ambrose writeth in this maner Having heard what God had spoken in him and having understood by the holy Ghost that the Sonne of God was not onely to come into the earth but that he was also to descend into Hell to that he might rayse up the dead which was then done for a testimony of the present and an example of the future he turned himselfe unto the Lord and said O that thou wouldest keepe me in Hell that thou vvouldest hide me untill thy wrath be past and that thou wouldest appoint me a time in which thou wouldest remember me Iob. 14.13 in which wordes he affirmeth that Iob did prophecie that he should be raysed up at the passion of
by Peter Lombard and other of the Schoolemen but also by Iudocus Clichtoveus not long before the time of the Councell of Trent Lazarus saith Clichtoveus first of all came forth alive out of the sepulchre and then was commandement given by our Lord that hee should be loosed by the disciples and suffered to go his way because the Lord doth first inwardly by himselfe quicken the sinner and afterwards absolveth him by the Priests ministerie For no sinner is to be absolved before it appeareth that hee be amended by due repentance and bee quickned inwardly But inwardly to quicken the sinner is the office of God alone who saith by the Prophet I am he that blotteth out your iniquities The truth therefore of the Priests absolution dependeth upon the truth and sinceritie of Gods quickning grace in the heart of the Penitent which if it be wanting all the absolutions in the world will stand him in no stead For example our Saviour saith If yee forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neyther will your Father forgive your trespasses and in this respect as is observed by Sedulius in other mens persons we are eyther absolved or bound graviusque soluti Nectimur alterius si solvere vincla negamus Suppose now that a man who cannot find in his heart to forgive the wrong done unto him by another is absolved here by the Priest from all his sinnes according to the usuall forme of Absolution are wee to thinke that what is thus loosed upon earth shall be loosed in heaven and that Christ to make the Priests word true will make his owne false And what wee say of charitie toward man must much more be understood of the love of God and the love of righteousnesse the defect whereof is not to be supplyed by the absolution of anie Priest It hath beene alwayes observed for a speciall difference betwixt good and bad men that the one hated sinne for the love of vertue the other onely for the feare of punishment The like difference do our Adveâ—saries make betwixt Contrition and Attrition that the hatred of sinne in the one proceedeth from the love of God and of righteousnesse in the other from the feare of punishment and yet teach for all this that Attrition which they confesse would not otherwise suffice to justifie a man being ioyned with the Priests Absolution is sufficient for that purpose he that was attrite being by vertue of this Absolution made contrite and iustified that is to say hee that was led onely by a servile feare and consequently was to be rancked among disordered and evill persons being by this meanes put in as good case for the matter of the forgivenesse of his sinnes as hee that loveth God sincerely For they themselves doe graunt that such as have this servile feare from whence Attrition issueth are to be accounted evill and disordered men by reason of their want of charitie to which purpose also they alledge that saying of Gregory Recti diligunt te non recti adhuc timent te Such as be righteous love thee such as be not rightâ—ous as yet feare thee But they have taken an order notwithstanding that non recti shall stand recti in curiâ with them by assuming a strange authoritie unto themselves of iustifying the wicked a thing we know that hath the curse of God and man threatned unto it making men friends with God that have not the love of God dwelling in them For although we be taught by the word of God that perfect love casteth out feare that wee have not received the spirit of bondage to feare againe but the spirit of adoption whereby wee cry Abba father that mount Sinai which maketh those that come unto it to feare and quake engendreth to bondage and is to be cast out with her children from inheriting the promise that without love both we our selves are nothing and all that we have doth profit us nothing yet these wonderfull men would have us beleeve that by their word alone they are able to make something of this nothing that feare without love shall make men capable of the benefite of their pardon as well as love without feare that whether men come by the way of mount Sinai or mount Sion whether they have Legall or Evangelicall repentance they have authoritie to absolve them from all their sinnes as if it did lye in their power to confound Gods Testaments at their pleasure and to give unto a servile feare not the benefite of manumission only but the priviledge of adoption also by making the children of the bondwoman children of the promise and giving them a portion in that blessed inheritance together with the children of her that is free Repentance from dead workes is one of the foundations and principles of the doctrine of Christ. Nothing maketh repentance certaine but the hatred of sinne and the love of God and without true repentance all the Priests under heaven are not able to give us a discharge from our sinnes and deliver us from the wrath to come Except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven Except yee repent yee shall all perish is the Lords saying in the new Testament and in the old Repent and turne from all your transgressions so iniquitie shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby yee have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will yee dye O house of Israel Now put case one commeth to his ghostly father with such sorrow of minde as the terrours of a guiltie conscience usually doe produce and with such a resolution to cast away his sins as a man hath in a storme to cast away his goods not because he doth not love them but because he feareth to loose his life if he part not with them doth not he betray this mans soule who putteth into his head that such an extorted repentance as this which hath not one graine of love to season it withall wil qualifie him sufficiently for the receiving of an absolution by I know not what sacramentall facultie that the Priest is furnished withall to that purpose For all doe confesse with S. Augustin that this feare which loveth not justice but dreadeth punishment is servile because it is carnall and therefore doth not crucifie the flesh For the willingnesse to sinne liveth which then appeareth in the work when impunitie is hoped for but when it is beleeved that punishment will follow it liveth closely yet it liveth For it would wish rather that it were lawfull to doe that which the Law forbiddeth and is sorry that it is not lawfull because it is not spiritually delighted with the good thereof but carnally feareth the evill vvhich it doth threaten What man then doe we
aye-virgin Mary which kinde of oblation for the Saincts sounding somewhat harshly in the eares of the Latines Leo Thuscus in his translation thought best to expresse it to their better liking after this maner We offer unto thee this reasonable service for the faithfully deceased for our fathers and fore-fathers the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and all the Saints interceding for them As if the phrase of offering for the Martyrs were not to be found in S. Chrysostoms own workes and more universally for the just both the Fathers and the Patriarches the Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists and Martyrs and Confessors the Bishops and such as ledd a solitarie life and the whole order in the suffrages of the Church rehearsed by Epiphanius yea and in the Western Church it selfe for the spirits of those that are at rest Hilary Athanasius Martin Ambrose Augustin Fulgentius Leander Isidorus c. as may be seene in the Muzarabicall Office used in Spaine Sixthly this may be confirmed out of the funerall orations of S. Ambrose in one whereof touching the Emperour Valentinian and his brother Gratian thus he speaketh Let us beleeve that Valentinian is ascended from the desert that is to say from this dry and unmanured place unto those flowry delights where being conjoyned with his brother hee enjoyeth the pleasure of everlasting life Blessed are you both if my orizons shall prevayle anie thing no day shall overslip you in silence no oration of mine shall passe you over unhonoured no night shall runne by wherein I will not bestow upon you some portion of my prayers With all oblations will I frequent you In another he prayeth thus unto God Give rest unto thy perfect servant Theodosius that rest which thou hast prepared for thy Saints and yet hee had said before of him Theodosius of honourable memory being freed from doubtfull fight doth now enjoy everlasting light and continuall tranquillitie and for the things which he did in this bodie he rejoyceth in the fruits of Gods reward because he loved the Lord his God he hath obtayned the societie of the Saints and afterward also Theodosius remaineth in light and glorieth in the companie of the Saints In a third he prayeth thus for his brother Satyrus Almightie God I now commend unto thee his harmelesse soule to thee doe I make my oblation accept mercifully and gratiously the office of a brother the sacrifice of a Priest although he had directly pronounced of him before that he had entred into the kingdome of heaven because he beleeved the word of God and excelled in manie notable vertues Lastly in one of his Epistles he comforteth Faustinus for the death of his sister after this maner Doe not the carkases of so many halfe-ruined cities and the funeralls of so much land exposed under one view admonish thee that the departure of one woman although a holy and an admirable one should be born with greater consolation especially seeing they are cast down and overthrowen for ever but she being taken from us but for a time doth passe a better life there I therefore thinke that she is not so much to be lamented as to be followed with prayers and am of the minde that she is not to be made sadde with thy teares but rather that her soule should be commended with oblations unto the Lord. Thus farre S. Ambrose Unto whom we may adjoyne Gregory Nazianzen also who in his funerall oration that he made upon his brother Caesarius having acknowledged that he had received those honours that did befit a new created soule which the Spirit had reformed by water for he had beene but lately baptized before his departure out of this life doth notwithstanding pray that the Lord would be pleased to receive him Diverse instances of the like practise in the ages following I have produced in another place to which I will adde some few more to the end that the Reader may from thence observe how long the primitive institution of the Church did hold up head among the tares that grew up with it and in the end did quite choake and extinguish it Our English Saxons had learned of Gregory to pray for reliefe of those soules that were supposed to suffer paine in Purgatorie and yet the introducing of that noveltie was not able to justle out the ancient usage of making prayers and oblations for them which were not doubted to have beene at rest in Gods kingdome And therefore the brethren of the Church of Hexham in the anniversarie commemoration of the obite of Oswald King of Northumberland used to keep their Vigiles for the health of his soule and having spent the night in praysing of God with psalmes to offer for him in the morning the sacrifice of the sacred oblation as Beda writeth who telleth us yet withall that he raigned with God in heaven and by his prayeâ—s procured manie miracles to be wrought on earth So likewise doth the same Bede report that when it was discovered by two severall visions that Hilda the Abbesse of Streansheale or Whitby in Yorkeshire was carried up by the Angels into heaven they which heard thereof presently caused prayers to be said for her soule And Osberne relateth the like of Dunstan that being at Bathe and beholding in such another vision the soule of one that had been his scholer at Glastenbury to be carried up into the palace of heaven he straightway commended the same into the hands of the divine pieâ—ie and intreated the lords of the place where he was to do so likewise Other narrations of the same kind may be found among them that have written of Saincts lives particularly in the Tome published by Mosander pag. 69. touching the decease of Bathildis Queen of France pa. 25. concerning the departure of Godfry Earle of Cappenberg who is said there to have appeared unto a certain Abbess called Gerbergis to have acquainted her that he was now without all delay without all danger of any more severe triall gone unto the palace of the highest King and as the sonne of the immortall King was cloathed with blessed immortalitie the Monk that writ the Legend addeth that shee presently thereupon caused the sacrifice of the Masse to be offered for him which how fabulous soever it may be for the matter of the vision yet doth it strongly prove that within these 500. years for no longer since it is that this is accounted to have bene done the use of offering for the soules of those that were beleeved to be in heaven was still retayned in the Church The letters of Charles the great unto Offa King of Mercia are yet extant wherein hee wisheth that intercessions should be made for Pope Adrian then lately deceased not having any doubt at all saith hee but that his blessed soule is at rest but that we may shew our faithfulnesse
resurrection of the same thy onely begotten Sonne our Redeemer O God who art the Creator and maker of all things and vvho art the blisse of thy Saincts grant unto us who make request unto thee that the spirit of our brother who is loosed from the knott of his body may bee presented in the blessed resurrection of thy Saincts O almightie and mercifull God vve doe intreat thy clemency forasmuch as by thy judgement we are borne and make an end that thou wilt receive into everlasting rest the soule of our brother whom thou of thy piety hast commanded to passe from the dwelling of this world and permit him to be associated with the company of thine elect that together with them he may remaine in everlasting blisse without end Eternall God vvho in Christ thine only begotten sonne our Lord hast given unto us the hope of a blessed Resurrection grant we beseech thee that the soules for which we offer this sacrifice of our redemption unto thy Majestie may of thy mercy attaine unto the rest of a blessed resurrection with thy Saincts Let this communion we beseech thee O Lord purge us from sinne and give unto the soule of thy servant N. a portion in the heavenly joy that being set apart before the throne of the glory of thy Christ with those that are upon the right hand it may have nothing common with those that are upon the left Through Christ our Lord. At whose comming when thou shalt command both the peoples to appeare command thy servant also to be severed from the number of the evill and grant unto him that he may both escape the flames of everlasting punishment and obtaine the rewards of a righteous life c. In these and other prayers of the like kind we may descry evident footsteps of the primarie intention of the Church in her supplications for the dead which was that the whole man not the soule separated only might receive publick remission of sinnes a solemne acquitall in the judgement of that great day and so obtaine both a full escape from all the consequences of sinne the last enemie being now destroyed and death swallowed up in victory and a perfect consummation of blisse and happinesse all which are comprised in that short prayer of S. Paul for Onesiphorus though made for him while he was alive The Lord grant unto him that he may finde mercie of the Lord in that day Yea diverse prayers for the dead of this kinde are still retained in the Romane Offices of which the great Spanish Doctor Iohannes Medina thus writeth Although I have read manie prayers for the faithfull deceased which are contayned in the Romane Missall yet have I read in none of them that the Church doth petition that they may more quickly be freed from paines but I have read that in some of them petition is made that they may be freed from everlasting paines For beside the common prayer that is used in the Masse for the Commemoration of all the faithfull deceased that Christ would free them from the mouth of the Lion that Hell may not swallow them up and that they may not fall into the place of darknesse this prayer is prescribed for the day wherin the dead did depart out of this life O God vvhose propertie is alwayes to have mercie and to spare vve most humbly beseech thee for the soule of thy servant N. which this day thou hast commanded to depart out of this world that thou mayst not deliver it into the hands of the enemy nor forget it finally but command it to be received by the holy Angels and brought unto the country of Paradise that because he hath trusted and beleeved in thee he may not sustain the paines of Hell but possesse joyes everlasting which is a direct prayer that the soule of him which was then departed might immediatly be received into Heaven and escape not the temporarie paines of Purgatorie but the everlasting paines of Hell for howsoever the new reformers of the Romane Missall have put in here poenas inferni under the generalitie peradventure of the terme of the paines of hell intending to shrowde their Purgatorie which they would have men beleeve to be one of the lodges of Hell yet in the old Missall which Medina had respect unto we reade expressely poenas aeternas everlasting paines which by no construction can be referred unto the paines of Purgatorie and to the same purpose in the book of the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome at the exequies of a Cardinall a prayer is appointed to be read that by the assistance of Gods grace he might escape the judgement of everlasting revenge who while he lived was marked with the seale of the holy Trinity Againe there be other prayers saith Medina wherein petition is made that God would raise the soules of the dead in their bodies unto blisse at the day of judgement Such for example is that which is found in the Romane Missall Absolve vvee beseech thee O Lord the soule of thy servant from all the bond of his sinnes that in the glory of the resurrection being raysed among thy saincts and elect hee may breath againe or bee refreshed and that other in the Romane Pontificall O God unto whom all things doe live and unto whom our bodies in dying do not perish but are changed for the better we humbly pray thee that thou wouldest command the soule of thy servant N. to be received by the hands of thy holy Angells to be carried into the bosome of thy friend the Patriarch Abraham and to be raysed up at the last day of the great judgement whatsoever faults by the deceit of the Divel he hath incurred do thou of thy pitie and mercy wash away by forgiving them Now forasmuch as it is most certaine that all such as depart in grace as the Adversaries acknowledge that all in Purgatorie doe are sure to escape Hell and to be raysed up unto glorie at the last day Medina perplexeth himselfe exceedingly in according these kinde of praiers with the received grounds of Purgatorie and after much agitation of the businesse too and fro at last resolveth upon one of these two desperate conclusions that touching these praiers which are made in the Church for the dead it may first of all be said that it is not necessary to excuse them all from all unfitnesse For many things are permitted to be read in the Church which although they be not altogether true nor altogether fit yet serve for the stirring up and increasing the devotion of the faithfull Many such things saith he we beleeve are contayned in the histories that be not sacred and in the Legends of the Saincts and in the opinions and writings of the Doctors all which are tolerated by the Church in the meane time while there is no question moved of them and no scandall ariseth from
of the godly where is the inheritance of the mercifull where is the blisse of the undefiled where is the joy and consolation of such as love the truth Thither will I goe where is light and life where is glory jocundnesse where is joy and exultation whence griefe and heavinesse and groning flie away where they forgett the former tribulations that they sustayned in their body upon the earth Thither will I goe where there is a laying aside of tribulations where there this a recompense of labors where is the bosome of Abraham where the proprietie of Isaac where the familiarity of Israel where be the soules of the Saints vvhere the quire of Angels where the voyces of Archangels where the illumination of the holy Ghost where the kingdome of Christ where the endlesse glory and blessed sight of the eternall God the father What difference I pray you now is there betwixt this Limbus Patrum and Heaven it selfe Of Abrahams bosome Gregory Nyssen writeth after this maner As by a certaine abuse of speech we call a baye of the sea an arme or bosome so it seemeth to me that the word doth signifie the exhibitioÌ„ of those unmeasurable good things by the name of a bosome into which good bosome or baye all men that sayle by a vertuous course through this present life when they loose from hence put in their soules as it were into a haven free from danger of waves and tempests and in another place If one hearing of a bosome as it were a certaine large baye of the sea should conceive the fulnesse of good things to be meant thereby where the Patriarch is named and that Lazarus is therein he should not thinke amisse True it is indeed that diverse of the Doctors who make Abrahams bosome to be a place of glorie do yet distinguish it from Heaven but it is to be considered withall that they hold the same opinion indifferently of the place whereunto the soules of all godly men are received aswell under the state of the New as of the Old Testament For they did not hold as our Romanistes doe now that Christ by his descension emptyed Limbus removed the bosome of Abraham from Hell into Heaven their Limbus is now as full of Fathers as ever it was and is the common receptacle wherein they suppose all good soules to remaine untill the generall resurrection before which time they admit neyther the Fathers nor us unto the possession of the kingdome of Heaven For Abraham saith Gregory Nyssen and the other Patriarches although they had a desire to see those good things and never left seeking that heavenly countrey as the Apostle saith yet are they notwithstanding that even yet in expectancie of this favour God having provided some better thing for us according to the saying of S. Paul that they without us should not be made perfect So Tertullian It appeareth to every wise man that hath ever heard of the Elysian fields that there is some locall determination which is called Abâ—ahams bosome to receive the soules of his sonnes even of the Gentiles he being the Father of many nations that were to bee accounted of Abrahams family and of the same faith wherewith Abraham beleeved God under no yoke of the law nor in tâ—e signe of Circumcision That region tâ—erefore doe I call the bosome of Abraham although not heavenly yet higher than hell which shall give rest in the meane season to the soules of the righteous untill the consummation of thinâ—s doe finish the resurrection of all with the fulnesse of reward And we have heard S. Hilary say before that all the faithfull when they are gone out of the body shall be reserved by the Lords custody for that entrie into the heavenly kingdome being in the meane time placed in the bosome of Abraham whither the wicked are hindred from comming by the gulfe interposed betwixt them untill the time of entring into the kingdome of heaven doe come and againe The rich and the poore man in the Gospell do serve us for witnesses one of whom the Angels did place in the seates of the Blessed and in Abrahams bosome the other the region of punishment did presently receive For the day of judgement is the everlasting retribution eyther of blisse or paine but the time of death hath every one under his lawes while eyther Abraham or punishment reserveth every one unto judgement The difference betwixt the Doctors in their iudgement concerning the bosome of Abraham and the resting of the ancient Fathers therein wee finde noted in part in those expositions upon the Gospell which goe under the name of Theophilus Bishop of Antioch and Eucherius Bishop of Lyons In that the rich man say they did in Hell behold Abraham this by some is thought to be the reason because all the Saints before the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ are said to have descended into Hell although into a place of refreshment Others thinke that the place wherein Abraham was did lye apart from those places of Hell situated in places above for which the Lord should say of that rich man that lifting up his eyes when he was in torments he saw Abraham a far off The former of these opinions is delivered by some of the Doctors doubtfully by others more resolutely Primasius setteth it downe with S. Augustins qualification It sâ—emâ—th that without absurditie it may be beleeved The author of the imperfect worke upon Matthew saith that peradventure the just did ascend into heaveâ— before the comming of Christ yet that he doth thinke â—hat no soule before Christ did ascend into heaven since Adam sinned and the heavens were shut against him but all were detayned in Hell and as I doe thinke saith the Greeke expositor of Zacharies Hymne likewise even our fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob and the whole queere of the holy Prophets and just men did enjoy the comming of Christ. Of which comming to visite the Fathers in Hell S. Hierome Ruffinus Venantius Fortunatus Gregory Iulianus Toletanus and Eusebius Emissenus as he is commonly called interpret that question propounded by the Baptist unto our Saviour Art thou he that should come or looke we for another which exposition is by S. Chrysostome iustly reiected as utterly impertinent and ridiculous Anastasius Sinaita affirmeth very boldly that all the soules aswell of the just as the unjust were under the hand of the Divell untill Christ descending into Hell said unto those that vvere in bonds Come forth and to those that were indurance Be at libertie For he did not only saith he in another place dissolve the corruption of the bodies in the grave but also delivered the captive soules out of Hell vvherein they were by tyrannie detained and peradventure not by tyrannie neyther but for many debts which being payed he that descended for their deliverie brought backe with him a great
and darke dungeon of death that is into Hades adding afterward that Hades may rightly be esteemed to be the house and mansion of such as are deprived of life Nicephorus Gregoras in his funerall Oration upon Theodorus Metochites putteth in this for one strayne of his lamentation Who hath brought downe that heavenly man unto the bottome of Hades and Andrew archbishop of Crete touching the descent both of Christ and all Christians after him even unto the darke and comfortlesse Hades writeth in this maner If hee who was the Lord and master of all and the light of them that are in darknesse and the life of all men would taste death and undergoe the descent into Hell that he might be made like unto us in all things sinne excepted and for three dayes went thorough the sad obscure and darke region of Hell what strange thing is it that wee who are sinners and dead in trespasses according to the great Apostle who are subject to generation and corruption should meete with death and goe with our soule into the darke chambers of Hell where we cannot see light nor behold the life of mortall men For are wee above our Master or better then the Saints who underwent these things of ours after the like maner that we must doe Iuvencus intimateth that our Saviour giving up the ghost sent his soule unto heaven in those verses of his Tunc clamor Domini magno conamine missus Aethereis animam comitem commiscuit auris Eusebius Emesenus collecteth so much from the last words which our Lord uttered at the same time Father into thine hands I commend my spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His spirit was above and his body remayned upon the crosse for us In the Greeke exposition of the Canticles collected out of Eusebius Philo Carpathius and others that sentence in the beginning of the sixt chapter My beloved is gone down into his garden is interpreted of Christs going to the soules of the Saints in Hádes which in the Latin collections that beare the name of Philo Carpathius is thus more largely expressed By this descending of the Bridegrome we may understand the descending of our Lord Iesus Christ into Hell as I suppose for that which followeth proveth this when he sayeth To the beds of spices For those ancient holy men are not unfiâ—ly signified by the beds of spices such as were Noë Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses Iob David Samuel Elisaeus Daniel and very many others before the Law in the Law who all of them like unto beds of spices gave a most sweete smell of the odours and fruits of holy righteousnesse For then as a triumpher did he enter into PARADISE when he pierced into Hell God himselfe is present with us for a witnesse in this matter when he answered most graciously to the Thiefe upon the Crosse commending himselfe unto him most religiously To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Lastly touching this Paradise the various opinions of the ancient are thus layd downe by Olympiodorus to seeke no farther It is a thing worthy of enquirie in what place under the Sunne the righteous are placed which have left this life Certaine it is that in Paradise forasmuch as Christ said unto the Thiefe This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And it is to be knowne that the literall Tradition teacheth Paradise to be in earth But some have said that Paradise also is in Hell that is in a place under the earth unto which opinion of theirs they apply that of the Gospell where the rich man saw Lazarus being yet himselfe sunke downe in a lower place when Lazarus was in a place more eminent where Abraham was But howsoever the matter goeth this without doubt is manifest aswell out of Ecclesiastes as out of all the sacred Scripture that the godly shall be in prosperity and peace and the ungodly in punishments and torments And others are of the minde that Paradise is in the Heavens c. Hitherto Olympiodorus That Christs soule went into Paradise Doctor Bishop saith being well understood is true For his soule in hell had the joyes of Paradise but to make that an exposition of Christs descending into hell is to expound a thing by the flat contrary of it Yet this ridiculous exposition he affirmeth to be received of most Protestants Which is even as true as that which he avoucheth in the same place that this article of the descent into Hell is to be found in the old Roman Creed expounded by Ruffinus where Ruffinus as we have heard expounding that article delivereth the flat contrarie that it is not found added in the Creed of the Church of Rome It is true indeed that more than most Protestants do interprete the words of Christ uttered unto the Thiefe upon the Crosse Luk. 23.43 of the going of his soule into Paradise where our Saviour meaning simply and plainly that hee would be that day in Heaven M. Bishop would have him so to be understood as if he had meant that that day he would be in Hell And must it be now held more ridiculous in Protestants to take Hell for Paradise then in M. Bishop to take Paradise for Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be the wordes of the Apostles Creed in the Greeke and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Symbol of Athanasius Some learned Protestants do observe that in these words there is no determinate mention made eyther of ascending or descending either of Heaven or Hell taking Hell according to the vulgar acception but of the generall only under which these contraries are indifferently comprehended and that the words literally interpreted import no more but this HEE WENT UNTO THE OTHER WORLD Which is not to expound a thing by the flat contrary of it as M. Bishop fancieth who may quickly make himselfe ridiculous in taking upon him thus to censure the interpretations of our learned linguistes unlesse his owne skill in the languages were greater then as yet he hath given proofe of Master Broughton with whose authoritie hee elsewhere presseth us as of a man esteemed to be singularly seene in the Hebrew and Greeke tongue hath beene but too forward in maintayning that exposition which by D. Bishop is accounted so ridiculous In one place touching the terme Hell as it doth answer the Hebrew Sheol and the Greeke Hádes he writeth thus He that thinketh it ever used for Tartaro or Gehenna otherwise then the terme Death may by Synecdoche import so hath not skill in Ebrew or that Greeke vvhich breathing and live Graecia spake if God hath lent me any judgement that way In another place he alledgeth out of Portus his Dictionary that the Macedonians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven And one of his acquaintance beyond the Sea reporteth that he should deliver that in many most ancient Manuscript copies the Lords prayer is found with this