sentence of Diphilus the old Comicall Poet. In Hades we resolve there are two pathes the one whereof is the way of the righteous the other of the wicked But as in this generall they agreed together both among themselves and with the truth so touching the particular situation of this Hádes and the speciall places whereunto these two sorts of soules were disposed and the state of things there a number of ridiculous fictions and fond conceits are to be found among them wherein they dissented as much from one another as they did from the truth it selfe So we see for example that the best soules are placed by some of them in the companie of their Gods in heaven by others in the Galaxias or milky circle by others beyond the Ocean and by others under the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet one Hádes notwithstanding was coÌ„monly thought to have received them all Plato relateth this as a sentence delivered by them who were the first ordayners of the Grecian Mysteries Whosoever goeth to Hádes not initiated and not cleansed shal lye in the mire but he that commeth thither purged and initiated shall dwell with the Gods So Zoroaster the great father of the Magi in the East is said to have used this entrance into his discourse touching the things of the other world These things wrote Zoroaster the sonne of Armenius by race a Pamphylian having beene dead in the warre which I learned of the Gods being in Hades as Clemens Alexandrinus relateth in the fifth booke of his Stromata where he also noteth that this Zoroaster is that Er the sonne of Armenius a Pamphylian of whom Plato writeth in the tenth booke of his Common-wealth that being slain in the warre he revived the twelfth day after and was sent backe as a messenger to report unto men here the things which he had heard and seene in the other world one part of whose relation was this that he saw certaine gulfes beneath in the earth and above in the heaven opposite one to the other and that the just were commanded by the Iudges that sate betwixt those gulfs to go to the right hand up toward Heaven but the wicked to the left hand and downeward which testimonie Eusebius bringeth in among many others to shew the consent that is betwixt Plato and the Hebrewes in matters that concerne the state of the world to come Next to Zoroaster commeth Pythagoras whose golden verses are concluded with this distich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When thou shalt leave the body and come unto a free heaven thou shalt be an immortall God incorruptible and not subject to mortalitie any more So Epicharmus the scholler of Pythagoras If thou be godly in minde thou shalt suffer no evill when thou art dead thy spirit shall remaine above in heaven and Pindarus The soules of the ungodly flie under the heaven or under the earth in cruell torments under the unavoydable yoakes of evills but the soules of the godly dwelling in heaven doe prayse that great blessed one with songs and hymnes Ciâ—ero in his Tusculan questions alledgeth the testimony of Ennius approving the common fame that Romulus did lead his life in heaven with the Gods and in the sixth booke of his Common-wealth he bringeth in Scipio teaching that unto all them which preserve assist and enlarge their countrey there is a certaine place appointed in heavâ—n where they shall live blessed world without end Such a life saith he is the way to heaven and into the company of these who having lived and are now loosed from their body doe inhabite that place which thou seest pâ—inting to the Galaxiaes or milky circle whereof we reade thus also in Manilius An fortes animae dignatque nomina coelo Corporibus resoluta suis terraeque remissa Huc migrant ex orbe suumque habitantia coelum Aethereos vivunt annos mundoque fruuntur With Damascius the philosopher of Damascus this circle is the way of the soules that goe to the Hades in heaven Against whom Iohannes Philoponus doth reason thus from the etymologie of the word If they passe through the Galaxias or milky circle then this should be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Hades that is in heaven and how can that be Hades which is so lightsome To which they that maintayned the other opinion would peradventure oppose that other common derivation of the word from the Dorick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to please or to delight or that which Plato doth deliver in the name of Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from seeing or knowing all good things For there did Socrates looke to finde such things as appeareth by that speech which Plato in his Dialogue of the Soule maketh him to use the same day that he was to depart out of this life The soule being an invisible thing goeth hence into such another noble and pure and invisible place to Hades in truth unto the good and wise God whither if God will my soule must presently goe which place is alledged by Eusebius to prove that in the things which concerne the immortalitie of the soule Plato doth differ in opinion nothing from Moses The tale also which Socrates there telleth of the pure land seated above in the pure heaven though it have a number of toyes added to it as tales use to have yet the foundation thereof both Eusebius and Origen doe judge to have beene taken from the speeches of the Prophets touching the land of promise and the heavenly Canaan and for the rest Origen referreth us to Platoes interpreters affirming that they who handle his writings more gravely doe expound this tale of his by way of allegory Such another tale doth the same philosoper relate in the Dialogue which he intituleth Gorgias shewing that among men he that leadeth his life righteously and holily shall when he is dead goe unto the Fortunate Ilands and dwell in all happinesse free from evills but he that leadeth it unrighteously and impiously shall goe unto the prison of punishment and just revenge which they call Tartarus which Theodoret bringeth in to prove that Plato did exactly beleeve that there were judgements to passe upon men in Hades For being conversant with the Hebrewes saith he in Aegypt he heard without doubt the oracles of the Prophets and taking some things from thence and mingling other things therewith out of the fables of the Greekes made up his discourses of these things Among which mixtures that which he hath of the Fortunate Ilands is reckoned by Theodoret for one whereof you may reade in Hesiod Pindarus Diodorus Siculus Plutarch and Iosephus also who treating of the diverse sectes that were among the Iewes sheweth that the Essenes borrowed this opinion of the placing of good mens soules in a certaine pleasant habitation beyond
most forcible of all the rest those wherewith the simpler sort are coÌ„monly most deluded might carry some shew of proofe that Christs flesh blood should be turned into bread wine but have no maner of colour to prove that bread and wine are turned into the flesh and blood of Christ. The truth of the second appeareth by the fourâ—h verse in which we finde that this fell out not long before the Passeover and consequently a yeare at least before that last Passeover wherein our Saviour instituted the Sacrament of his Supper Wee willingly indeed do acknowledge that that which is inwardly presented in the Lords Supper and spiritually received by the soule of the faithfull is that verie thing which is treated of in the sixth of Iohn but wee denie that it was our Saviours intention in this place to speake of that which is externally delivered in the Sacrament and orally received by the Communicant And for our warrant herein wee need looke no further then to that earnest asseveration of our Saviour in the 53. verse Verily verily I say unto you Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood ye have no life in you Wherin there is not onely an obligation laid upon them for doing of this which in no likelyhood could be intended of the externall eating of the Sacrament that was not as yet in being but also an absolute necessitie imposed non praecepti solùm ratione sed etiaÌ„ medij Now to hold that all they are excluded from life which have not had the meanes to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is as untrue as it is uncharitable And therefore manie of the Papists themselves as Biel Cusanus Cajelan Tapper Hessels Iansenius and others confesse that our Saviour in the sixth of Iohn did not properly treat of the Sacrament The third of the points proposed may be collected out of the first part of Christs speech in the 35. and 36. verses I am the bread of life hee that commeth to mee shall never hunger and he that beleeveth on me shall never thirst But I said unto you that yee also have seene me and beleeve not But especially out of the last from the 61. verse forward When Iesus knew in himselfe that his Disciples murmured at it hee said unto them Doeth this offend you What then if you should see the Sonne of man ascend up where hee was before It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speake unto you are spirit and life But there are some of you that beleeve not Which words Athanasius or whosoever was the author of the Tractate upon that place Quicunque dixerit verbum in filium homiâ—is noteth our Saviour to have used that his hearers might learne that those things which hee spake were not carnall but spirituall For how many could his bodie have sufficed for meat that it should be made the food of the whole world But therefore it was that he made mention of the Sonne of mans ascension into heaven that he might draw them from this corporall conceit and that hereafter they might learne that the flesh which he spake of was celestiall meat from above and spirituall nourishment to be given by him For the words which I have spoken unto you saith he are spirit and life So likewise Tertullian Although he saith that the flesh profiteth nothing the meaning of the speech must be directed according to the intent of the matter in hand For because they thought it to be a hard and an intolerable speech as if he had determined that his flesh should be truly eaten by them that hee might dispose the state of salvation by the spirit hee premised It is the spirit that quÃckneth and so subjoyned The flesh profiteth nothing namely to quicken c. And because the Word was made flesh it therefore was to be desired for causing of life and to be devoured by hearing and to be chewed by understanding and to be digested by faith For a little before he had also affirmed that his flesh was heavenly bread urging still by the Allegory of necessary food the remembrance of the fathers who preferred the bread and the flesh of the Egyptians before Gods calling Adde hereunto the sentence of Origen There is in the New Testament also a letter which killeth him that doth not spiritually conceive the things that be spoken For if according to the letter you do follow this same which is said Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood this letter killeth And those sayings which everie where occurre in S. Augustines Tractates upon Iohn How shall I send up my hand unto heaven to take hold on Christ sitting there Send thy faith and thou hast hold of him Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy belly Beleâ—ve and thou hast eaten For this is to eate the living bread to beleeve in him He that beleeveth in him eateth He is invisibly fedd because he is invisibly regenerated He is inwardly a bâ—be inwardly renewed where he is renewed there is he nourished The fourth proposition doth necessarily follow upon the third For if the eating and drinking here spoken of be not an externall eating and drinking but an inward participation of Christ by the communion of his quickning spirit it is evident that this blessing is to be found in the soule not onely in the use of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but at other times also It is no wayes to be doubted by anie one saith S. Augustine that every one of the faithfull is made partaker of the body and bloud of our Lord when he is made a member of Christ in Baptisme and that hee is not estranged from the communion of that bread and cup although before he eate that bread and drinke that cup hee depart out of this world being setled in the unitie of the body of Christ. For he is not deprived of the participation and the benefite of that Sacrament when hee hath found that which this Sacrament doth signifie And hereupon wee see that diverse of the Fathers doe apply the sixth of Iohn to the hearing of the Word also as Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Eusebius Caesareensis and others We are said to drinke the blood of Christ saith Origen not onely by way of the Sacraments but also when we receive his word wherein consisteth life even as hee himselfe saith· The words which I have spoken are spirit and life Vpon which words of Christ Eusebius paraphraseth after this maner Doe not thinke that I speake of that flesh wherewith I am compassed as if you must eate of that neither imagine that I command you to drinke my sensible and bodily blood but understand well that the vvords which I have spoken unto you are spirit and life So that those very words and speeches of his are his flesh and blood whereof who
he brought unto those just men that were in the bosome of Abraham when he did descend into Hell I have not yet found Thus farre S. Augustin For the better understanding of this wee are to call unto minde that saying of the Philosophers that they who do not learne rightly to understand words use to be deceived in the things themselves It wil not be amisse therefore to consider somewhat of the name of Hell that the nature of the word being rightly understood wee may the better conceive the truth of the thing that is signified thereby Wee are to know then first of our English word Hell that the originall thereof is by diverse men delivered diversly Some derive it from the Hebrew word Sheol eyther subtracting the first letter or including it in the aspiration For this letter S saith Priscian hath such an affinitie with the aspiration that the Boeotians in some words were wont to write H for S saying Muha for Musa Others bring it from the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a lake others from the English hole as signifying a pit-hole others from hale as noting the place that haleth or draweth men unto it Some say that in the old Saxon or German Hel signifieth deepe whether it bee high or low But the derivation given by Verstegan is the most probable from being helled over that is to say hidden or covered For in the old German tongue from whence our English was extracted Hil signifieth to hide and Hiluh in Otfridus Wissenburgensis is hidden And in this countrey with them that retayne the ancient language which their forefathers brought with them out of England to hell the head is as much as to cover the head and hee that covereth the house with tile or slate is from thence commonly called a hellier So that in the originall propriety of the word our Hell doth exactly answere the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denoteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place which is unseene or removed from the sight of man Wee are in the second place therefore to observe that the tearme of Hell beside the vulgar acception wherein it signifieth that which Luke 16.28 is called the place of torment is in the Ecclesiasticall use of the word extended more largely to expresse the Greeke word Hádes and the Latin Inferi whatsoever is contayned under them Concerning which S. Augustine giveth this note The name of Hell is variously put in Scriptures and in many meanings according as the sense of the things which are entreated of doth require and Master Casaubon who understood the propertie of Greeke and Latin wordes as well as any this other They who thinke that HADES is properly the seate of the damned be no lesse deceaved then they who when they read INFEROS in Latin writers doe interpret it of the same place The lesse cause have wee to wonder that Hell in the Scripture should bee made the place of all the dead in common and not of the wicked onely as in Psalm 89.47 48. Remember how short my time is wherefore hast thou made all men in vaine What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of HELL and Esai 38.18 19. HELL cannot prayse thee death cannot celebrate thee they that goe downe into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The LIVING the LIVING hee shall prayse thee as I doe this day Where the opposition betwixt Hell and the state of life in this world is to be observed Now as the common condition of the dead is considerable three maner of wayes eyther in respect of the body separated from the soule or of the soule separated from the bodie or of the whole man indefinitely considered in this state of separation so do we finde the word Hádes which by the Latins is rendred Infernus or Inferi and by the English Hell to be applied by the ancient Greek interpreters of the old Testament to the common state and place of the bodie severed from the soule by the heathen Greekes to the common state and place of the soule severed from the bodie and by both of them to the common state of the dead and the place proportionably correspondent to that state of dissolution And so the Doctors of the Church speaking in the same language which they learned both from the sacred and the forraine writers are accordingly found to take the word in these three severall significations Touching the first we are to note that both the Septuagint in the Old Testament and the Apostles in the New doe use the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES and answerably thereunto the Latin Interpreters the word Infernus or Inferi and the English the word Hell for that which in the Hebrew text is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SHEÓL on the other side where in the New Testament the word HADES is used there the ancient Syriack translator doth put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shejul in steed thereof Now the Hebrew Sheol and so the Chaldy Syriack and Aethiopian words which draw their originall from thence doth properly denote the interior parts of the earth that lye hidden from our sight namely whatsoever tendeth downeward from the surface of the earth unto the center thereof In which respect we see that the Scripture describeth Sheol to be a deepe place and opposeth the depth thereof unto the heighth of Heaven Iob. 11.8 Psalm 139.8 Amos 9.2 Againe because the bodies that live upon the surface of the earth are corrupted within the bowells thereof the dust returning to the earth as it was therefore is this word commonly put for the state and the place wherein dead bodies do rest and are disposed for corruption And in this respect wee finde that the Scripture doth oppose Sheol not only unto Heaven but also unto this land of the living wherein we now breathe Esai 38.10 11. Ezech. 32.27 the surface of the earth being the place appointed for the habitation of the living the other parts ordayned to be the chambers of death Thus they that are in the graves Ioh. 5.28 are said to sleepe in the dust of the earth Dan. 12.2 The Psalmist in his prophesie of our Saviours humiliation tearmeth it the dust of death Psal. 22.15 which the Chaldee Paraphrast expoundeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the house of the grave interpreting Sheol after the selfe same maner in Psa. 31.18 89.49 R. Mardochai Nathan in his Hebrew Concordance giveth no other interpretation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sheol but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the grave R. Abraham Aben-Ezra in his commentary upon those words Genes 37.35 I will goe downe into Sheól unto my sonne mourning writeth thus Here the Translator of the erring persons he meaneth the Vulgar Latin translation used by the Christians erreth in translating Sheól Hell or Gehenna for behold the signification of the word
But men do thinke that what doth grow from Hades into light is newly made and what is diminished from the light into Hades is perished by light understanding nothing else but the visible structure and existence of things and by Hádes that invisible and insensible thing which other Philosophers commonly call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chalcidius the Platonick translateth Sylvam the Aristotelians more fitly Materiam primam whence also it is supposed by Master Casaubon that those passages were borrowed which we meet withall in the bookes that beare the name of Hermes Trismegistus In the dissolution of a materiall bodie the body it selfe is brought to alteration and the forme which it had is made invisible and so there is a privation of the sense made not a destruction of the bodies I say then that the world is changed in as much as every day a part thereof is made invisible but never utterly dissolved wherewith wee may compare likewise that place of Plutarch in his booke of living privately Generation doth not make any of the things that be but manifesteth them neyther is corruption a translation of a thing from being to not being but rather a bringing of the thing that is dissolved unto that vvhich is unseene Whereupon men according to the ancient traditions of their fathers thinking the sunne to be Apollo called him Delius and Pythius namely from manifesting of things and the ruler of the contrary destinie whether he be a God or an Angel they named Hádes by reason that we when we are dissolved doe goe unto an unseene and invisible place By the Latins this Hádes is termed Dispiter or Diespiter which name they gave unto this lower ayre that is joyned to the earth vvhere all things have their beginning and ending quorum quòd finis ortus Orcus dictus saith Varro All this earthly power and nature saith Iulius Firmicus they named Ditem patrem because this is the nature of the earth that all things doe both fall into it and taking their originall from thence doe againe proceed out of it Whence the Earth is brought in using this speech unto God in Hermes I do receive the nature of all things For I according as thou hast commanded doe both beare all things and receive such as are deprived of life The use which we make of the testimony of Hippocrates those other authorities of the heathen is to shew that the Greek Interpreters of the old TestameÌ„t did most aptly assume the word Hádes to expresse that coÌ„mon state place of corruption which was signified by the Hebrew Sheol therfore in the last verse of the 17. of Iob where the Greeke maketh mention of descending into Hádes Comitolus the Iesuite noteth that S. Ambrose rendreth it in sepulchrum into the grave which agreeth well with the paraphrase that the Greeke Scholiasts make upon that place Is it not a thing common unto all mortall men to die is not Hell or Hádes the house of all doe not all finde there an end of their labours Yea some doe thinke that Homer himselfe doth take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either for the earth or the grave in those verses of the eighth of his Iliads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I 'le cast him downe as deepe As Tartarus the brood of night where Barathrum doth sleepe Torment in his profoundest sinks where is the floore of brasse And gates of iron the place for depth as far doth Hell surpasse As heaven for height exceeds the earth For Tartarus being coÌ„monly acknowledged to be a part of Hádes and to be the very Hell where the wicked spirits are tormented they thinke the Hell from whence Homer maketh it to be as farre distant as the heaven is from the earth can be referred to nothing so fitly as to the Earth or the Grave It is taken also for a tombe in that place of Pindarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Other sacred Kings have gotten a tombe apart by themselves before the houses or before the gates of the Citie And therefore we see that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by Suidas in his Lexicon expressely interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by Hesychius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tombe or a grave and in the Greeke Dictionary set out by the Romanists themselves for the better understanding of the Bible it is noted that Hádes doth not onely signifie that which we commonly call Hell but the sepulchre or grave also Of which because Stapleton and Bellarmine doe denie that any proofe can be brought these instances following may be considered In the booke of Tobi chap. 3.10 I shall bring my fathers old age with sorrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto Hell what can it import else but that which is in other wordes expressed chap. 6.14 I shall bring my fathers life with sorrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the grave In the 93. and 113. Psalm according to the Greeke division or the 94. and 115. according to the Hebrew where the Hebrew hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place of silence meaning the grave as our adversaries themselves do grant there the Greeke hath Hades or Hell In Esai 14.19 where the vulgar â—atin translateth out of the Hebrew Descenderunt ad fundamenta laci quasi cadaver putridum They descended unto the foundations of the lake or pit as a rotten carkeis in steed of the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth the lake or pit the Greeke both there and in Esai 38.18 putteth in Hades or Hell and on the other side Ezech. 32.21 where the Hebrew saith The strong among the mightie shall speake to him out of the middest of Sheol or Hell there the Greeke readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the depth of the lake or pit by Hell lake and pit nothing but the grave being understood as appeareth by comparing this verse with the five that come after it So in these places following where in the Hebrew is Sheol in the Greeke Hades in the Latin Infernus or Inferi in the English Hell the place of dead bodies not of soules is to be understood Gen. 44.31 We shall bring downe the gray haires of our father with sorrow unto Hell where no lower Hell can be conceited into which gray haires may be brought then the Grave So 1. King 2.6 David giveth this charge unto Salomon concerning Ioab Let not his hoare head goe downe to Hell in peace and in the ninth verse concerning Shimei His hoare head bring thou downe to Hell with bloud Psalm 141.7 Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Hell Esai 14.11 Thy pompe is brought downe to Hell the worme is spread under thee and the wormes cover thee Psal. 6.5 In death there is no remembrance of thee
fit time and he who granted unto him that his flesh should not see corruption will grant also unto us that our flesh shall not see corruption but that in fit time it shall bee freed from corruption Neyther is it any whit strange unto them that are conversant in the writings of the ancient Doctors to heare that our Saviour by his buriall descended into Hell spoyled Hell and brought away both his owne body and the bodies of the Saints from Hell Wee finde the question moved by Gregory Nyssen in his sermon upon the Resurrection of Christ how our Lord did dispose himselfe at the same time three maner of wayes both in the heart of the earth Matth. 12.40 and in Paradise with the thiefe Luk. 23.43 and in the hands of his Father Luk. 23.46 For neither will any man say quoth he that Paradise is in the places under the earth or the places under the earth in Paradise that at the same time he might be in both or that those infernall places are called the hand of the Father Now for the last of these hee saith the case is plaine that being in Paradise he must needs be in his Fathers hands also but the greatest doubt hee maketh to be how he should at the same time be both in Hades and in Paradise for with him the heart of the earth the places under the earth and Hades or Hell are in this question one and the same thing And his finall resolution is that in this Hell Christ remained with his dead body when with his soule hee brought the thiefe into the possession of Paradise For by his body saith he wherein he sustayned not the corruption that followeth upon death hee destroyed him that had the power of death but by his soule he ledd the thiefe into the entrance of Paradise And these two did worke at the selfe same time the Godhead accomplishing the good by them both namely by the incorruption of the body the dissolution of death and by the placing of the soule in his proper seat the bringing backe of men unto Paradise againe The like sentence doe wee meet withall in the same Fathers epistle unto Eustathia Ambrosia and Basilissa His body he caused by dispensation to be separated from his soule but the indivisible deitie being once knit with that subject was neyther dis-joyned from the body nor the soule but was with the soule in Paradise making way by the thiefe for an entrance unto mankinde thither and with the body in the heart of the earth destroying him that had the power of death Wherewith wee may compare that place which we meet withall in the workes of S. Gregory Bishop of Neocaesarea wherein our Saviour is brought in speaking after this maner I must descend into the very bottome of Hell for the dead that are detay-there I must by the three dayes death of my flesh overthrow the power of long continuing death I must light the lamp of my BODY unto them vvhich sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death and that of S. Chrysostom who is accounted also to be the author of that other sermon attributed unto S. Gregory How vvere the brasen gates broken and the iron barres burst By his BODY For then appeared first a body immortall and dissolving the tyrannie of death it selfe whereby was shewed that the force of death was taken away not that the sinnes of those who dyed before his comming were dissolved and that which we reade in another place of his workes He spoyled Hell descending into Hell hee made it bitter when it tasted of his flesh Which Esay understanding before hand cryed out saying Hell was made bitter meeting thee below so the Septuagint render the words Esai 14.19 It was made bitter for it was destroyed It was made bitter for it was mocked It received a BODY and light upon God it received Earth and met with Heaven it received that vvhich it saw and fell from that which it did not see Thus Caesarius expounding the parable Luk. 13.21 wherein the kingdome of God is likened unto leaven vvhich a woman tooke and hid in three pecks of floure till all was leavened saith that the three pecks of floure are first the whole nature of mankind then death and lastly Hell wherein the divine BODY being hidden by BURIALL did leaven all unto resurrection and life Whereupon he bringeth in our Saviour in another place speaking thus I will therefore be buried for their sakes that be in Hell I will therefore as it were a stone strike the gates thereof bringing forth the prisoners in strength as my servant David hath said So S. Basil asketh How we do accomplish the descent into Hell and answereth that we doe it in imitating the BURIALL of Christ in Baptisme For the bodies of those that be baptized are as it were buried in the water saith he S. Hilary maketh mention of Christs flesh quickened out of Hell by himselfe and Arator in like maner Infernum Dominus cùm destructurus adiret Detulit inde suam spoliato funere carnem When the Lord went to Hell to destroy it He brought from THENCE his owne flesh spâ—yling the grave Philo Carpathius addeth that in his grave he spoyled Hell Whereupon the Emperour Leo in his oration upon the buriall of our Saviour wisheth us to honour it by adorning our selves with vertues and not by putting him in the grave againe For it behoved saith he that this should be once done to the end that Hell might be spoyled and it was done And the Grecians retaine the commemoration hereof in their Liturgies unto this day as their Octoëchon Anastasimon and Pentecostarion do testifie wherein such hymnes and prayers as these are frequent Thou didst receive death in thy flesh working thereby immortalitie for us O Saviour and didst dwell in the grave that thou mightest free us from Hell raysing us up together with thy selfe When thou vvast put in the tombe as a mortall man the keepers of Hell gates shooke for feare for having overthrowne the strength of Death thou diddest exhibite incorruption to all the dead by thy Resurrection Although thou didst descend into the grave as a mortall man ô giver of life yet didst thou dissolve the strength of hell ô Christ raysing up the dead together with thy selfe whom it had also swallowed and didst exhibit the resurrection as God unto all that in faith and desire doe magnifie thee Thou who by thy three-dayes buriall didst spoyle Death and by thy life-bringing resurrectioÌ„ didst raise up corrupted man ô Christ our God as a lover of mankinde to thee be glory Thou who by thy three-dayes buriall didst spoyle Hell and by thy resurrection didst save man have mercy upon me By thy three-dayes buriall the enemy was spoyled the dead loosed from the bands of Hell death deaded the palaces of hell voyded Therefore in hymnes doe we
take for their Gods And here also out of Epiphanius we may further observe who were the masters or the mistresses rather for this was the womens heresie from whom our Romanists did first learne their Hyperdulîa or that transcendent kind of service wherewith they worship the Virgin Mary namely the Collyridians so called from the Collyrides or cakes which at a certaine time of the yeare they used to offer unto the blessed Virgin against whom Epiphanius doth thus oppose himselfe What Scripture hath delivered any thing concerning this Which of the Prophets have permitted a man to be worshipped that I may not say a woman For a choyse vessell she is indeed but yet a woman Let Mary be in honour but let the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost be worshipped let no man worship Mary This mysterie is appointed I doe not say for a woman nor yet for a man neyther but for God the Angels themselves are not capable of such kinde of glorifying Let none eate of this errour touching holy Mary for although the tree be beautifull yet is it not for meate and although Mary be most excellent and holy and to be honoured yet is she not to be worshipped The bodie of Mary was holy indeed but not God the Virgin indeed was a virgin and honourable but not given unto us for adoration but one that did her selfe worship him who was borne of her in the flesh and came from heaven out of the bosome of his Father Thus did this learned Father labour to cut the roots of this Idolatrous heresie when it first began to take hold of the feminine sexe animating all that were of masculine spirits to the extirpatiō therof in this maner Go to then ye servants of God let us put on a manlike mind and beat down the madnes of these women But when this disease afterwards had gotten a farther spredd and had once throughly seized upō men as wel as women it is a most wonderfull thing to consider into what extremitie this frenzie brake out after the time of Sathans loosing especially For then there wanted not such as would interprete that speech of the Angel unto the holy Virgin Haile full of grace the Lord is with thee of the equality of her Empire with her Sonnes as if it had beene said Even as he so thou also dost enjoy the same most excellent dignitie of ruling In the redundance and effusion of grace upon the creatures the Lords power and vvill is so accommodated unto thine that thou mayest seeme to be the first in that both diadem and tribunall The Lord is with thee not so much thou with the Lord as the Lord with thee in that function Then it was taught for good Divinitie that from the time wherein the Virgin mother did conceive in her wombe the Word of God she hath obtained such a kind of jurisdiction so to speake or authoritie in all the temporall procession of the holy Ghost that no creature hath obtained any grace or vertue from God but according to the dispensation of his holy mother that because she is the mother of the sonne of God who doth produce the holy Ghost therefore all the gifts vertues and graces of the holy Ghost are by her hands administred to whom she pleaseth when she pleaseth how she pleaseth and as much as she pleaseth That she hath singularly obtained of God this office from eternitie as her selfe doth testifie Proverb 8.23 I was ordained from everlasting namely a dispenser of celestiall graces and that in this respect Cantic 7.4 it is said of her Thy neck is as a tower of Yvorie because that as by the neck the vitall spirits do descend from the head into the bodie so by the Virgin the vitall graces are transmitted from Christ the head into his mysticall body the fulnesse of grace being in him as in the head from whence the influence cōmeth in her as in the necke through which it is transfused unto us so that take away the patronage of the Virgin you stop as i◠were the sinners breath that he is not able to live any lōger Then men stuck not to teach that unto her all power was given in heaven and in earth So that for heaven when our Saviour ascended thither this might be assigned for one reason among others why he left his mother behinde him least perhaps the court of Heaven might have beene in a doubt whom they should rather go to meet their Lord or their Lady for earth she may rightly apply unto her selfe that in the first of Ezra All the kingdomes of the earth hath the Lord given unto me and we may say unto her againe that in Tobi 14. Thy kingdome endureth for all ages and in the 144. or 145 Psalme Thy kingdome is a kingdome of all ages That howsoever she was the noblest person that was or ever should be in the world and of so great perfection that although she had not beene the mother of God she ought neverthelesse to have beene the Lady of the world yet according to the lawes whereby the world is governed by the right of inheritance she did deserve the principality and kingdome of this world That Christ never made any legacie of this Monarchy because that could not be done without the prejudice of his mother and he knew besides that the mother could make voyde the Testament of the sonne if it were made unto her prejudice And therefore that by all this it appeareth most evidently that Mary the mother of Iesus by right of inheritance hath the regall dominion over all that be under God That as many creatures doe serve the glorious Virgin Mary as serve the Trinitie namely all creatures whatsoever degree they hold among the things created whether they be spirituall as Angels or rationall as men or corporall as the Heavenly bodies or the Elements and all things that are in Heaven and in Earth whether they be the damned or the blessed all which being brought under the governement of God are subject likewise unto the glorious Virgin for asmuch as he who is the sonne of God and of the blessed Virgin being willing as it were to equall in some sort his Mothers soveraigntie unto the soveraignty of his Father even he who was God did serve his mother upon earth Whence Luke 2.51 it is written of the Virgin and glorious Ioseph He was subject unto them that as this proposition is true All things are subject to Gods command even the Virgin her selfe so this againe is true also All things are subject to the command of the Virgin even God himselfe that considering the blessed Virgin is the mother of God and God is her sonne and every sonne is naturally inferior to his mother and subject unto her and the mother hath preeminence and is superior to her sonne it therefore followeth that the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 correspondent types or figures before they were consecrated but after the consecration saith hee they are called and are and beleeved to be the body and blood of Christ properly where the Popes owne followers who of late published the Acts of the generall Councells at Rome were so farre ashamed of the ignorance of this blind Bayard that they correct his boldnesse with this marginall note The holy gifts are oftentimes found to be called antitypes or figures correspondent after they be consecrated as by Gregory Nazianz. in the funerall Oration upon his sister and in his Apologie by Cyrill of Ierusalem in his fifth Cateches Mystagogic and by others And wee have alreadie heard how the author of the Dialogues against the Marcionites and after him Eusebius and Gelasius expressely call the Sacrament an image of Christs bodie howsoever this peremptorie Clerke denieth that ever anie did so By all which it may easily appeare that not the oppugners but the defenders of Images were the men who first went about herein to alter the language used by their fore-fathers Now as in the daies of Gregory the third this matter was set afoot by Damascen in the East so about a hundred yeares after in the Papacie of Gregory the fourth the same began to be propounded in the West by meanes of one Amalarius who was Bishop not as hee is commonly taken to be of Triers but of Mets first and afterwards of Lyons This man writing doubtfully of this point otherwhiles followeth the doctrine of S. Augustine that Sacraments were oftentimes called by the names of the things themselves and so the Sacrament of Christs bodie was secundùm quendam modum after a certaine maner the bodie of Christ otherwhiles maketh it a part of his beleefe that the simple nature of the bread and wine mixed is turned into a reasonable nature to wit of the body and blood of Christ. But what should become of this bodie after the eating therof was a matter that went beyond his little witt and therefore said he when the bodie of Christ is taken with a good intention it is not for me to dispute whether it be invisibly taken up into heaven or kept in our body untill the day of our buriall or exhaled into the ayre or whether it go out of the body with the blood at the opening of a veyne or be sent out by the mouth our Lord saying that every thing which entreth into the mouth goeth into the belly and is sent forth into the draught For this and another like foolerie de triformi tripartito corpore Christi of the three parts or kindes of Christs body which seeme to be those ineptiae de tripartito Christi corpore that Paschasius in the end of his Epistle intreateth Frudegardus not to follow he was censured in a Synod held at Carisiacum wherein it was declared by the Bishops of France that the bread and wine are spiritually made the body of Christ which being a meat of the mind and not of the belly is not corrupted but remayneth unto everlasting life These dotages of Amalarius did not only give occasion to that question propounded by Heribaldus to Rabanus wherof we have spoken heretofore but also to that other of far greater consequence Whether that which was externally delivered received in the sacrament were the verie same body which was borne of the Virgin Mary suffered upon the Crâ—sse rose again from the Grave Paschasius Radbertus a Deacon of those times but somewhat of a better and more modest temper then the Greek Deacon shewed himselfe to be of held that it was the veâ—ie same and to that purpose wrote his book to Placidus of the Body Blood of our Lord wherein saith a Iesuite he was the first that did so explicate the true sense of the Cà tholick Church his owne Romane he meaneth that he opened the way to those manie others who wrote afterwards of the same argument Rabanus on the other side in a writing directed to Abbot Egilo maintayned the contrarie doctrine as hath before beene noted Then one Frudegardus reading the third book of S. Augustin de doctrinâ Christianâ and finding there that the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of Christ was a figurative maner of speech began somewhat to doubt of the truth of that which formerly he had read in that foresaid Treatise of Paschasius which moved Paschasius to write againe of the same argument as of a question wherein he confesseth many were then doubtfull But neither by his first nor by his second writing was hee able to take these doubts out of mens mindes and therefore Carolus Calvus the Emperour being desirous to compose these differences and to have unitie setled among his subjects required Ratrannus a learned man of that time who lived in the Monasterie of Corbey whereof Paschasius was Abbat to deliver his judgement touching these points Whether the body and blood of Christ which in the Church is received by the mouth of the faithfull be celebrated in a mysterie or in the truth and whether it be the same body which was born of Mary which did suffer was dead and buried which rising againe and ascending into heaven sitteth at the right hand of the Father Whereunto he returneth this answer that the bread and the wine are the body and blood of Christ figuratively that for the substance of the creatures that which they were before consecration the same are they also afterward that they are called the Lords bodie and the Lords blood because they take the name of that thing of which they are a sacrament that there is a great difference betwixt the mysterie of the blood and body of Christ which is taken now by the faithfull in the Church and that which was borne of the Virgin Mary which suffered which was buried which rose again which sitteth at the right hand of the Father All which hee proveth at large both by testimonies of the holy Scriptures and by the sayings of the ancient Fathers Wherupon Turrian the Iesuite is driven for pure need to shift off the matter with this silly interrogation To cite Bertram so Ratrannus is more usually named what is it else but to say that the heresie of Calvin is not new As if these things were alledged by us for anie other end then to shew that this way which they call heresie is not new but hath been troden in long since by such as in their times were accounted good and Catholick teachers in the Church That since they have been esteemed otherwise is an argument of the alteration of the times and of the conversion of the state of things which is the matter that now we are inquiring of and which our Adversaries in an evill houre to them doe so earnestly presse us to discover The Emperour Charles unto whom this
the writings of S. Cyrill Gennadius Olympiodorus and oâ—hers S. Cyrill from those last words of our Saviour upon the Crosse Father into thy hands I commend my spirit delivereth this as the certaine ground and foundation of our hope Wee ought to beleeve that the soules of the Saints when they are departed out of their bodies are commended unto Gods goodnesse as unto the hands of a most deare Father and doe not remaine in the earth as some of the unbeleevers have imagined untill they have had the honour of buriall neyther are carried as the soules of the wicked be unto a place of unmeasurable torment that is unto Hell but rather flye to the hands of the Father this way being first prepared for us by Christ. For hee delivered up his soule into the hands of his Father that from it and by it a beginning being made we might have certaine hope of this thing firmely beleeving that after death we shall be in the hands of God and shall live a farre better life for ever with Christ. for therefore Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Gennadius in a booke wherein hee purposely taketh upon him to reckon up the particular points of doctrine received by the Church in his time when he commeth to treat of the state of soules separated from the body maketh no mention at all of Purgatorie but layeth down this for one of his positions After the ascension of our Lord into heaven the soules of all the Saints are with Christ and departing out of the bodie goe unto Christ expecting the resurrection of their bodie that together with it they may be changed unto perfect and perpetuall blessednesse as the soules of the sinners also being placed in Hell under feare expect the resurrection of their body that with it they may be thrust unto everlasting paine In like maner Olympiodorus expounding that place of Ecclesiastes If the tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be maketh this inference thereupon In whatsoever place therefore either lightsome or darke that is either in the foule station of sinnes or in the honest of vertues a man is taken when he dyeth in that degree and order he remaineth for ever For either hee resteth in the light of eternall felicitie with the just and with Christ our Lord or is tormented in darkenesse with the wicked and with the Divell the prince of this world The first whom we finde directly to have held that for certaine light faults there is a purgatory fire provided before the day of judgement was Gregory the first about the end of the sixth age after the birth of our Saviour Christ. It was his imagination that the end of the world was then at hand and that as when the night beginneth to be ended and the day to spring before the rising of the Sunne the darkenesse is in some sort mingled together with the light untill the remaines of the departing night be turned into the light of the following day so the end of this world was then intermingled with the beginning of the world to come and the very darkenes of the remaines thereof made transparent by a certaine mixture of spirituall things And this he assigneth for the reason why in those last times so many things were made cleare touching the soules which before lay hid so that by open revelations and apparitions the world to come might seeme to bring in and open it selfe unto them But as we see that he was plainly deceived in the one of his conceits so have we just cause to call into question the veritie of the other the Scripture especially having informed us that a people for enquiry of matters should not have recourse to the dead but to their God to the Law and to the Testimony it being not Gods manner to send men from the dead to instruct the living but to remit them unto Moses and the Prophets that they may heare them And the reason is well worth the observation which the author of the Questions to Antiochus rendreth why God would not permit the soule of any of those that departed from hence to returne backe unto us againe and to declare the state of things in Hell unto us least much errour might arise from thence unto us in this life For many of the Divels saith hee might transforme themselves into the shapes of those men that were deceased and say that they vvere risen from the dead and so might spred many false matters doctrines of the things there unto our seduction and destruction Neither is it to be passed over that in those apparitions and revelations related by Gregory there is no mention made of any common lodge in Hell appointed for purging of the dead which is that which the Church of Rome now striveth for but of certaine soules only that for their punishment were confined to bathes and other such places here upon earth which our Romanists may beleeve if they list but must seeke for the Purgatorie they looke for somewhere else And yet may they save themselves that labour if they will be advised by the Bishops assembled in the Councell of Aquisgran 240. yeares after these visions were published by Gregory who will resolve them out of the word of God how sinnes are punished in the world to come The sinnes of men say they are punished three maner of wayes two in this life and the third in the life to come Of those two the Apostle saith If we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord. This is the punishment wherewith by the inspiration of God every sinner by repenting for his offences taketh revenge upon himselfe But where the Apostle consequently adjoyneth When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with this world this is the punishment which almightie God doth mercifully inflict upon a sinner according to that saying Whom God loveth he chasteneth and he scourgeth everie sonne that hee receiveth But the third is very fearefull and terrible which by the most just judgement of God shall be executed not in this world but in that which is to come vvhen the just Iudge shall say Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the Divell and his angells Adde hereunto the saying of the author of the booke De vanitate saeculi wrongly ascribed to S. Augustine Know that when the soule is separated from the body presently it is eyther placed in Paradise for his good merites or cast headlong into the bottom of hell for his sinnes and that in the dayes of Otto Frisingensis himselfe who wrote in the year of our Lord MCXLVI the doctrine of Purgatory was esteemed onely a private assertion held by some and not an article of faith generally received by the whole Church for why should hee
labouâ—ed in vaine 1. Thessal 2.19 For what is our hope or joy or crowne of rejoycing are not even yee in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his comming 1. Pet. 1. â— Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation readie to be revealed in the last time 1. Corinth 5.5 That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iâ—sus Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby yee are sealed unto the day of redemption Luk. 21.28 When these things beginne to come to passe then looke up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh 2. Timoth. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righâ—eousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and Luk. 14.14 Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just And that the Church in her Offices for the dead had speciall respect unto this time of the Resurrection appeareth plainly both by the portions of Scripture appointed to be read therein and by diverse particulars in the prayers themselves that manifestly discover this intention For there the ministers as the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy reporteth read those undoubted promises vvhich are recorded in the divine Scriptures of our holy ResurrectioÌ„ and then devoutly sang such of the sacred Psalmes as were of the same subject and argument And so accordingly in the Romane Missall the lessons ordained to be read for that time are taken from 1. Corinth 15. Behold I tell you a mysterie Wee shall all rise againe c. Ioh. 5. The houre commeth wherein all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life c. 1. Thessal 4. Brethren we would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleepe that yee sorrow not as others which have no hope Ioh. 11. I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in me although he were dead shall live 2. Maccab. 12. Iudas caused a sacrifice to be offered for the sinnes of the dead justly and religiously thinking of the Resurrection Ioh. 6. This is the will of my Father that sent me that every one that seeth the Sonne and beleeveth in him may have life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and lastly Apocal. 14. I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth now saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours for their workes follow them Wherewith the Sequence also doth agree beginning Dies irae dies illa Solvet saeclum in favillâ Teste David cum Sibyllâ and ending Lacrymosa dies illa Quâ resurget ex favillâ Iudicandus homo reus Huic ergo parce Deus Pie Iesu Domine Dona eis requiem Tertullian in his booke de Monogamiâ which hee wrote after hee had beene infected with the heresie of the Montanists speaking of the prayer of a widow for the soule of her deceased husband saith that she requesteth refreshing for him and a portion in the first resurrection Which seemeth to have some tang of the error of the Millenaries whereunto not Tertullian onely with his Prophet Montanus but Nepos also and Lactantius and diverse other Doctors of the Church did fall who misunderstanding the prophecie in the 20. of the Revelation imagined that there should be a first resurrection of the just that should raigne here a thousand yeares upon earth and after that a second resurrection of the wicked at the day of the general judgement Yet in a certaine Gotthicke Missall I meet with two severall exhortations made unto the people to pray after the selfe same forme the one that God would vouchsafe to place in the bosome of Abraham the soules of those that be at rest and admit them unto the part of the first resurrectioÌ„ the other which I find elsewhere also repeated in particular that he would place in rest the spirits of their friends which were gone before them in the Lords peace and rayse them up in the part of the first resurrection Which how it may be excused otherwise then by saying that at the generall resurrection the dead in Christ shall rise fiâ—st and then the wicked shall be raysed after them and by referring the first resurrection unto the resurrection of the just which shall be at that day I cannot well resolve For certaine it is that the first râ—surrection spoken of in the 20. chapter of the Revelation of S. Iohn is the resuâ—rection of the soule from the death of sinne and error in this world as the second is the resurrection of the bodie out of the dust of the earth in the world to come both whiâ—h be distinctly layd down by our Saviour in the fift chapter of the Gospell of S. Iohn the first in the 25. verse The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live the second in the 28. and 29. Marveile not at this for the houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation And to this generall resurrection and to the judgement of the last day had the Church relation in her prayers some patternes whereof it will not be amisse to exhibit here in these examples following Although the condition of death brought in upon mankinde doth make our hearts and mindes heavy yet by the gift of thy clemencie we are raised up with the hope of future immortalitie and being mindfull of eternall salvation are not afraid to sustaine the losse of this light For by the benefite of thy grace life is not taken away to the faithful but changed and the soules being freed from the prison of the body abhorre things mortall when they attaine unto things eternall Wherefore we beseech thee that thy servant N. being placed in the tabernacles of the blessed may rejoyce that he hath escaped the straytes of the flesh and in the desire of glorification expect with confidence the day of Iudgement Through Iesus Christ our Lord. whose holy passion we celebrate without doubt for immortall and well resting soules for them especially upon whom thou hast bestowed the grace of the second birth who by the example of the same Iesus Christ our Lord have begunne to be secure of the resurrection For thou vvho hast made the things that were not art able to repaire the things that were and hast given unto us evidences of the resurrection to come not onely by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles but also by the
merits as they shal be judged to be worthy some into the place which is called Hell others into Abrahams bosome and through diverse eyther places or mansions and in his Commentaries upon Leviticus hee addeth further Neyther have the Apostles themselves as yet received their joy but even they doe expect that I also may be made partaker of their joy For the Saincts departing from hence doe not presently obtaine the full rewards of their labours but they expect us likewise howsoever staying howsoever slacking Then touching the purging of men after the Resurrection he thus delivereth his minde in his Commentaries upon Luke I thinke that even after our resurrection from the dead we shall have need of a sacrament to wash and purge us for none can rise without pollutions and upon Ieremy If any one be saved in the second resurrection he is that sinner vvhich needeth the baptisme of fire which is purged with burning that whatsoever he hath of wood hay and stubble the fire may consume it Neither doth Lactantius shew himselfe to varie much from him in eyther of those points for thus he writeth When God shall judge the righteous he will examine them by fire Then they whose sinnes shall prevaile eyther in weight or number shall be touched with the fire and burned but they whom perfect righteousnesse and the ripenesse of vertue hath throughly seasoned shall not feele that fire for from thence have they something in them that will repell put back the force of the flame so great is the force of innocency that that fire shall flye back from it without doing anie harme vvhich hath received this power from God that it may burne the wicked and do service to the righteous Yet notwithstanding let no man thinke that the soules are presently judged after death All of them are detayned in one common custodie untill the time come wherein the great Iudge doth make tryall of their doings In like maner doth S. Hilary write of the one part All the faithfull when they are gone out of the bodie shall be reserved by the Lords custodie for that entry 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 thus of the other Being to render an account of every idle word shall we desire the day of judgement wherein that unwearied fire must be passed by us in which those grievous punishments for expiating the soule from sinnes must be endured for to such as have beene baptized with the holy Ghost it remaineth that they should be consummated with the fire of judgement In S. Ambrose also there are some passages to bee found which seeme to make directly for either of these points as these for the former The soule is loosed from the body and yet after the end of this life it is held as yet in suspence with the uncertainty of the future judgement so that there is no end where there is thought to be an end We reade in the books of Esdras that when the day of judgement shall come the earth shall restore the bodies of the deceased and the dust shall restore the reliques of the dead which doe rest in the graves and the habitacles shall restore the soules which were committed to them and the most high shall be revealed upon the seat of judgement Also that scripture nameth those habitacles of the soules Promptuaries or secret receptacles and meeting with the complaint of man that the just which have gone before may seeme to be defrauded untill the day of judgement which is a very long time of the reward due unto them saith wonderfully that the day of judgement is like unto a crowne wherein as there is no slackenesse of the last so is there no swiftnesse of the first For the day of crowning is expected by all that vvithin that day both they who are overcome may be ashamed and they who doe overcome may obtaine the palme of victory Therefore while the fulnesse of time is expected the soules expect their due reward Paine is provided for some of them for some glory and yet in the meane time neither are those without trouble nor these without fruite and these for the latter With fire shall the sonnes of Levi be purged with fire Ezechiel with fire Daniel But these although they shall be tryed with fire yet shall say We have passed through fire and water Others shall remaine in the fire And if the Lord shall save his servants we shall be saved by faith yet saved as it were by fire Although we shall not be burned up yet shall we be burned After the end of the vvorld when the Angells shall be sent to separate the good and the bad this baptisme shall be when iniquitie shal be burnt up by the furnace of fire that in the kingdome of God the righteous may shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of their Father And if any one be as Peter or as Iohn he is baptized with this fire Seeing therefore he that is purged here hath need to be purged again there let him purge us there also when the Lord may say Enter into my rest that every one of us being burned with that flaming sword not burned up when he is entred into that pleasure of Paradise may give thankes unto his Lord saying Thou hast brought us into a place of refreshment Hereunto wee may adjoine that observation of Suarez the Iesuite They who thinke that the soules of men are not judged at their death nor do receive reward or punishment but are reserved in hidden receptacles untill the generall judgement doe consequently say that as men do not receive their last reward or punishment so neyther are they also purged untill the generall Resurrection and Iudgement do come from vvhence they might say vvith reasonable good consequence that men are to be purged with the fire of Conflagration and with as good consequence also may we further adde that prayers were not to be made for the deliverie of the soules of the dead from any purgatorie paines supposed to be suffered by them betwixt the time of their death and their resurrection which be the only praiers which are now in question In the Resurrection when our workes like unto clusters of grapes shall be cast into the probatory fire as it were into the wine-presse every mans husbandry shall be made manifest saith Gregorius Cerameus sometime archbishop of Tauromenium in Sicilia and No man as yet is entred eyther into the torments of Hell or into the kingdome of Heaven untill the time of the resurrection of the bodies saith Anastasius Sinaita upon whom Gretser bestoweth this marginall annotation that this is the Error of certain of the ancient of latter Greece And we
particular error which seemeth to have gotten head in his time as being most plausible to the multitude and very pleasing unto the looser sort of Christians therein he did well but that thereupon he condemned the generall practise of the Church which had no dependance upon that erroneous conceipt therein he did like unto himselfe headily and perversely For the Church in her Commemorations and prayers for the dead had no relation at all unto those that had ledd their lives lewdly and dissolutely as appeareth plainly both by the author of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy and by diverse other evidences before alledged but unto those that did end their lives in such a godly maner as gave pregnant hope unto the living that their soules were at rest with God and to such as these alone did it wish the accomplishment of that which remained of their redemption to wit their publick justification and solemne acquitall at the last day and their perfect consummation of blisse both in body and soule in the kingdome of heaven for ever after not that the event of these things was conceived to be anie wayes doubtfull for wee have beene told that things may be prayed for the event whereof is knowne to be most certaine but because the commemoration thereof was thought to serve for speciall use not onely in regard of the manifestation of the affection of the living toward the dead he that prayed as Dionysius noteth desiring other mens gifts as if they were his owne graces but also in respect of the consolation and instruction which the living might receive thereby as Epiphanius in his answer to Aërius doth more particularly declare The obiection of Aërius was this The Commemorations and prayers used in the Church bring no profit to the dead therefore as an unprofitable thing they are to be reiected To this doth Epiphanius thus frame his answer As for the reciting of the names of those that are deceased what can be better then this what more commodious and more admirable that such as are present do beleeve that they who are departed do live and are not extinguished but are still being and living with the Lord and that this most pious preaching might be declared that they who pray for their brethren have hope of them as being in a peregrination Which is as much in effect as if he had denied Aërius his consequence and answered him that although the dead were not profited by this action yet it did not therefore follow that it should be condemned as altogether unprofitable because it had a singular use otherwise namely to testifie the faith and the hope of the living concerning the dead the faith in declaring them to be alive for so doth Dionysius also expound the Churches intention in her publick nomination of the dead and as Divinitie teacheth not mortified but translated from death unto a most divine life the hope in that they signified hereby that they accounted their brethren to have departed from them no otherwise than as if they had beene in a journey with expectation to meet them afterward and by this meanes made a difference betwixt themselves and others which had no hope Then doth Epiphanius proceed further in answering the same objection after this maner The prayer also which is made for them doth profite although it do not cut off all their sinnes yet forasmuch as whilest we are in the world we oftentimes slip both unwillingly and with our will it serveth to signifie that which is more perfect For we make a memoriall both for the just and for sinners for sinners intreating the mercy of God for the just both the Fathers and Patriarches the Prophets and Apostles and Euangelists and Martyrs and Confessors Bishâ—ps also and Anchorites and the whole order that vve may sever our Lord Iesus Christ from the ranke of all other men by the honour that we doe unto him and that we may yeeld worship unto him Which as farre as I apprehend him is no more then if he had thus replyed unto Aërius Although the prayer that is made for the dead doe not cut off all their sinnes which is the onely thing that thou goest about to prove yet doth it profite notwithstanding for another purpose namely to signifie the supereminent perfection of our Saviour Christ above the rest of the sonnes of men who are subiect to manifold slipps and falls as long as they live in this world For aswell the righteous with their involuntarie slipps as sinners with their voluntarie falls doe come within the compasse of these Commemorations wherein prayers are made both for sinners that repent and for righteous persons that have no such need of repentance For sinners that being by their repentance recovered out of the snare of the Divell they may finde mercy of the Lord at the last day and bee freed from the fire prepared for the Divell and his angells For the righteous that they may be recompensed in the resurrection of the iust and received into the kingdome prepared for them from the foundation of the world Which kinde of prayer being made for the best men that ever lived even the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Euangelists and Martyrs themselves Christ onely excepted sheweth that the profite which the Church intended should be reaped therefrom was not the taking away of the sinnes of the parties that were prayed for but the honouring of their Lord above them it being hereby declared that our Lord is not to be compared unto any man though a man live in righteousnesse a thousand times and more for how should that be possible considering that the one is God the other man as the praying to the one and for the other doth discover and the one is in heaven the other in earth by reason of the remaines of the body yet resting in the earth untill the day of the Resurrection unto which all these prayers had speciall reference This do I conceive to be the right meaning of Epiphanius his answer as suting best both with the generall intention of the Church which he taketh upon him to vindicate from the misconstruction of Aërius with the application therof unto his obiection with the known doctrine of Epiphanius delivered by him elsewhere in these terms After death there is no helpe to be gotten eyther by godlinesse or by repentance For Lazarus doth not goe there unto the rich man nor the rich man unto Lazarus neyther doth Abraham send any of his spoyles that the poore may be afterward made rich thereby neyther doth the rich man obtaine that which he asketh although hee intreat mercifull Abraham â—ith instant supplication For the Garners are sealed up and the time is fulfilled and the combat is finished and the lists are voyded and the Garlands are given and such as have fought are at rest and such as have not obtained are gone forth and such as have not fought cannot now be present in time
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
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
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
majesty should have recourse unto the Saints who are most pure and gratefull to God who may present the sinners prayers unto the most High and by adjoyning their merits and prayers thereunto might make the same more fit for audience more pleasing and more gratefull Therefore Salmeron the Iesuite sticketh not to deliver his opinion plainely that the praying unto God by the Saints seemeth to be better then the praying unto him immediately as for other reasons so because the Church which hath the Spirit of Christ though S. Augustin surely would have judged such a Church to be led by the spirit of Antichrist rather then of Christ most frequently hath recourse unto God by the Saints but commeth more rarely unto God by it selfe and also because the praying of God by the invocations of Saints doth argue greater humilitie as may be seene in the Centurion Luc. 7.6 7. whereunto he applieth also the saying of David He hath had respect to the prayer of the humble and did not despise their prayers and of Iudith The prayer of the humble and meeke hath alway pleased thee Thus in the dayes of the Apostles themselves under the pretence of Humilitie some laboured to bring into the Church the worshipping of Angels which carried with it a shew of wisedome as S. Paul speaketh of it and such a shew as was not farre unlike unto that wherewith our Romish Doctors do cozen simple people now a dayes For this saith Theodoret did they counsell should be done namely that men should pray unto Angels pretending humility and saying that the God of all things was invisible and inaccessible and incomprehensible and that it was fit wee shoâ—ld procure Gâ—ds favour by the meanes of Angels whereas S Chrysostom treating of Christian humâ—litie â—heweth that the faithfull who are furnished with that grace do notwithstanding ascend beyond the highest toppes of heaven and passing by the Angels pâ—esent themselves before the Regall throne it selfe yea by earning thus to speake with God in prayer he sheweth that the man himselfe is made a kinde of an Angel the soule is so set loosâ— from the bonds of the body the reasoning is raysed up so high he is so translated into heaven he doth so overlâ—oke these worldly things he is so placed by the Regall thrâ—ne it selfe although he be a poore man although a servant although a simple man although an unlearned Neither is it to be forgotten that the heathen Idolaters also to cover the shame of their neglecting of God were wont to use this miserable excuse that by these they might goe to God as by officers we goe to the King which is the very selfe same ragg our Romanists have borrowed from them to cover their superstition with that the nakednesse thereof might not appeare But S. Ambrose or who ever else was author of those commentaries upon S. Pauls epistles that are found among his workes hath mett well with them and sufficiently discovered the vanitie of these grosse and carnall imaginations Go too saith he is there any man so mad or so unmindfull of his salvation as to give the Kings honour to an officer whereas if any shall be found but to treat of such a matter they are justly condemned as guiltie of high treason And yet these men thinke themselves not guiltie who give the honour of Gods name to a creature and leaving the Lord adore their fellow servants as though there were any thing more that could be reserved to God For therefore doe men goe to the King by Tribunes or officers because the King is but a man and knoweth not to whom he may commit the state of the common-wealth But to procure the favour of God from whom nothing is hid for he knoweth the merits or workes of all men we need no spokes-man but a devoute minde For wheresoever such a one shall speake unto him he will answer him But of all others S. Chrysostom is most plentifull in setting out the difference of the accesse which we may have to God to the great ones in this world When we have suit unto men saith he in one place vve have need of cost and money and servile adulation and much going up and downe and great adoe For it falleth out oftentimes that we cannot go straight unto the Lords themselves and present our gift unto them and speake vvith them but it is necessary for us first to procure the favour of their ministers and stewards and officers both with paying and praying and using all other meanes unto them and then by their mediation to obtaine our request But with God it is not thus For there is no need of intercessors for the petitioners neyther is he so ready to give a gracious answer being intreated by others as by our own selves praying unto him When thou hast need to sue unto men saith he in another place thou art forced first to deale with dâ—ore-keepers and to intreat parasites and flatterers and to goe a long way But with God there is no such matter without an intercessor he is intreated without money without cost he yeeldeth unto thy prayer It sufficeth only that thou cry in thine heart and bring teares with thee and entring in straightway thou mayest draw him unto thee Amongst men saith he in a third place it behoveth him that commeth unto one to be a man of speech and it is required that he should flatter all those that are about the Prince and to thinke upon many other things that he may finde acceptance But here there is need of nothing save of a watchfull minde onely and there is nothing that hindereth us from being neare to God So in his sermon upon the woman of Canaan which hee made in his latter dayes after his returne from his first banishment God is alwayes neare saith he If thou wilt intreat man thou askest what he is a doing and he is asleep he is not at leisure or the servant giveth thee no answer But with God there is none of these things Whithersoever thou goest and callest hee heareth there is no want of leisure nor a mediatour nor a servant that keepeth thee off Say Have mercy upon me and presently God is with thee For while thou art yet a speaking saith he I will say Behold here I am Esai 58.9 And therefore he biddeth us to marke the philosophy as he tearmeth it or the wisedome of the woman of Canaan She intreateth not Iames saith he she beseecheth not Iohn neyther doth she come to Peter but brake through the whole company of them saying I have no need of a mediatour but taking repentance with me for a spoakes-man I come to the fountaine it selfe For this cause did he descend for this cause did he take flesh that I might have the boldnesse to speake unto him I have no need of a mediatour have thou mercy upon me Hitherto S. Chrysostom Sixthly the